Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time
by TrowGundam
Summary: Harry always knew his dad was arrogant git, but turned around in his seventh year. Maybe Harry will find out why when he gets a mysteryous birthday present.
1. Chapter 1 Strange Summer and Irreversibl

**Disclaimer:** Just the standard disclaimer. I don't own anything except my plot ideas and stuff. The rest is all owned by J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, and anybody else that owns the copyrights to Harry Potter. On another note I will only put this in the first chapter. This disclaimer applies for all following chapters.

A/N: Welcome to another of my stories. I had a weird idea the other night at work. What if Harry had went back in time and ended up falling into love with Lily. So I came back home and looked and there were already stories like this. Well here is my rendition of it. I hope you enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 1: A Strange Summer and Irreversible Actions

The summer had been one of the worst but best summers Harry had ever had. On one hand the Dursleys had not said one word to Harry the whole summer and they even went so far as to go away on vacation for two weeks leaving him all alone at Number 4 the entire time. Then again the Dursleys refused to let him eat at meal times and the even put a pad lock on all the things that contained food.

Every time Harry would sneak down for food he would smile as he used the pen knife Sirius had gotten him. The Dursleys were baffled by how Harry got the food but they never said a word to him about, instead choosing to just ignore him.

He had been in touch with his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all summer as they planned a little how they were going to go about finding and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. They had no clue how to find them and they weren't having much luck on figuring out how to destroy them. Most books that had ever been written about Horcruxes were deemed illegal by International Confederation and had been destroyed years ago.

Harry had to wonder how Voldemort had figured out how to even create them when he was still in school. They had wanted to look through Dumbledore's stuff, but Professor McGonagall had told them that the Headmaster's stuff had to remain in the castle because there were things that the Ministry might "have reason to dispute" as she had put it in here letter. So the trio had decided that even thought they didn't want to that they would at least return to go through Dumbledore's stuff. So for the rest of the summer they just wait around not having much to do.

Harry though was counting down the days till his birthday and the day he would finally be free. It was now 11:59 PM on July 30th and Harry was still awake waiting for the next day to arrive.

Harry looked at his watch counting down the final few seconds till his birthday under his breath, "5…4…3…2…1. _Lumos._" He said the last under his breath.

His wand flared to life and he was filled with glee. Finally he was free to do whatever he wanted. He would never have to see the Dursleys again if he didn't want to. Harry started to pack intent on leaving as soon as possible.

"_Katheti Repario!_" The little stuff he had touched in the room flew back to their places and all of Harry's things flew into his trunk his clothes folding and everything else that got all of it to fit. Just as Harry was getting ready to send all his stuff to the Weasley's he heard a multitude of tapping on his window.

Harry looked at the window and there were several owls all at his window. He immediately recognized his own snowy white owl, Hedwig, the Weasley family owl, Errol, and Pig. The last three all looked like official owls that Hogwarts and the Ministry used for official correspondences. Harry had expected the Hogwarts letter, but he wasn't sure where the other two could have come from.

Harry untied all the letters and packages from the owls and let the three official looking owls and Pig away, while he let Errol rest on his bed and Hedwig sit on his shoulder as he opened all his mail.

Harry picked up the first official letter and saw the seal of the Ministry of Magic on the back. Harry groaned and opened the letter.

Ministry of Magic  
Department of Magical Law Enforcement  
Control of Underage Wizardry

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are writing to inform you that you are now of legal age to practice magic outside of school freely. We would like to remind you though that you live in a heavily Muggle populated area and while we will no longer be able to monitor your magic it is still against Wizarding law to perform magic in front of Muggles that are not aware of magic.

We also would like to inform you that enclosed with this letter is also a Learner's Permit for Apparition. You are limited to performing apparition under the supervision of an Adult that has their Apparition license, but seeing as we are no longer able to monitor your use of magic, you are on the honor system.

Furthermore we would like to wish you a Happy Birthday!

Sincerely,  
Mafilda Hopwork

Harry was delighted. It wasn't a letter of expulsion or anything. He folded the letter and put into his trunk. After that he turned to all the packages from his friends. He had received letters from everyone except for Ron and Hermione. They all said the same thing. They wished him a happy birthday and such. Harry thought it was strange that Ron and Hermione were sending him letters seeing as he was going to be heading to Burrow, but he understood when he opened them. Harry had received a book from each.

The one from Hermione was entitled _Advanced Defense for the Extremely Skilled_. From Ron he wasn't just surprised that he got him a book, but what the book was, _A Guide to the Dark Arts_. Harry was stunned.

Inside of the book from Ron there was a note.

Harry,

I didn't think it was wise to give this to you in front of everyone else. So I sent it ahead. I can't wait to see you later today. Talk to you later mate.

-Ron

Harry chuckled and threw the books into his trunk. He then opened the other unknown letter from one of the official looking owls. The letter was from Gringotts.

Gringotts  
Diagon Ally Branch 

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are writing to inform you that the contents of your current vault along with the contents of the Black and Dumbledore family vaults have been transferred to the Potter family vault per the final wishes of Albus Dumbledore and Sirius Black.

We would also like to inform you that you are now able to access the Potter family vault. All you need to do is request to see your family vault and a goblin will escort you down to it.

On a final note, enclosed is a letter that was requested be delivered to you if certain conditions were ever met in the will that your parents left behind. We at Gringotts would like to wish you a Happy Birthday and we look forward to your continued business.

Goblin Griphook  
Potter Account Manager

Harry stared at amazement at the small envelope that had come out with the letter from Gringotts. He started to open the letter while holding back the tears. He opened the letter but there wasn't much there.

Dear Harry,

We are sorry for this, but it has to be done.

Love,  
James and Lily Potter

P.S. _Activate_

Harry didn't have time to be confused. He felt a tug behind navel like he did with a portkey and he felt his hair get pulled as he realized the handle from his trunk had gotten caught in his hair as he leaned against it reading his letters, and then he felt a horrible pressing sensation and he blacked out.

* * *

Harry awoke to find himself in an almost familiar room and a red head bent over him asking him if he was okay. At first he thought that it was Ginny Weasley, but as his vision cleared he saw of vaguely familiar emerald green eyes staring down at him. 

The girl seeing that he was awake asked, "Are you ok?"

"I think so. How long have I been out?" Harry asked in a groggy voice.

"Well it has been about three hours sense you and your trunk appeared in here and you have been out since you arrived. How did you get here by the way? From the way you arrived it looked like a portkey but I don't really like the things myself so I'm not sure." She asked.

Harry looked around the room while she told him this and he started when he recognized the room and the view outside. He was still in Number 4 Privet Drive but the bedroom had changed. There was another trunk and the bed looked a little nicer, and all of Dudley's old things were gone.

Harry sat there dumbfounded as the girl waited for her answer. "Well?" She said a little impatient.

"From what I can tell I was here except it looked different. This is Number 4 Privet Drive is it not?" Harry asked.

"Impossible, I have lived her for two years and I have never seen you here before." The girl said irritated.

Harry took out his wand and muttered "_Tempus._"

Smoke came out of his wand and formed.

_July 31, 1977  
1:30 PM_

Harry looked dumbstruck. The year should have been 1997.

"What's with that look? The date and time are fine." She said confused by how he reacted.

"Yes, it may be, but where I'm from it is 1997 not 1977." Harry said slipping back into his thoughts.

"That's impossible. The only way to time travel is a time turner and the max they could ever do was a few hours." She said disbelievingly

"I know. Let me think this out real quick." The words weren't even out of his mouth when the girl whipped out here wand and pointed it at his heart.

"Who are you? Are you a Deatheater or something?" She demanded in a hostile tone.

"No. I'm not a Deatheater. Why would I be?" Harry told here eyeing her wand wearily.

"Then who are you and how did you get here?" She demanded.

"My name is Harry P…" Harry stopped. "Just Harry for now and you already guessed it, I got here by portkey. If you don't believe me look at this." Harry said digging out a copy of the Daily Prophet that he had kept.

She looked at it and was dumbfounded. "Well I'm not sure how you got here but it appears you are telling the truth. I'm Lily Evans by the way. You might want to be quiet though my sister and her husband will be getting back any moment and they won't be happy if they find you here." She told him lowering here wand.

Harry looked shocked again this was his mother, a younger version but still his mother.

"What?" Lily asked seeing the shocked look on Harry's face.

"Nothing," Harry replied quickly.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Lily asked.

"No. Where would I go? I'm not even born yet and I wouldn't even have my vault yet. Damn. What am I going to do?" Harry said.

"You could always stay here. You seem to be a fully qualified wizard and I'm sure you could probably hide from my sister if you wanted." Lily offered.

Harry was tempted. He would love a chance to catch up with his mother. He had never been able to meet her after all. After a little more thought on it, he answered, "Sure, I would love to."

"Well make your self at home. I'm sure you can do that. By the way have we met before? You remind me of someone I know of school, but your eyes are different. I can't quite place them though, but they also look familiar." Lily asked curiously.

Harry cursed under his breath remember just how much like his father people told him he looked. "No I don't think we ever have. But, I need to figure out how to get back. I'm needed where I'm from very badly. I can't stay." Harry said

"What you don't know? Whenever you travel back in time, at least with a time turner, it is impossible to go back forward in time because you have changed time just by appearing there. You just have to wait it out." Lily told him in a tone that Harry never thought he would hear from anybody except Hermione.

"Maybe Dumbledore would know how. He is around isn't he?" Harry said still desperate to get home.

"Of course Dumbledore is still around. It is the only reason Hogwarts is still around. Voldemort would have taken it a long time ago if he wasn't. But still not even Dumbledore can bend the rules of time." Lily said annoyed he had doubted her original answer.

"Damn. What am I going to do now then? I can't just wait around here. I really to need to get home." Harry said to himself as he started to panic.

"You can't go 'home', Harry, but look at it this way. You can try and prevent whatever you need to get back to from ever happening then the problem is solved. That is about all you can do for now. If you want to try and wait twenty years go ahead but it is likely that with you coming back that whatever it is that is so important won't happen or you might not even be able to stop it or whatever you have to do." Lily told him.

Harry thought about for a moment. "I guess, but what can I do? Wait I don't have to go back to Hogwarts then. But, I'll need to talk to Albus Dumbledore. He will know what to do." Harry said resigning to his new fate.

"What did you mean about if Dumbledore was still around earlier? Voldemort is too afraid to try and kill him. It is about the only reason he hasn't tried to take Hogwarts yet." Lily asked him remembering his earlier comment.

"Ehh… I don't think I should be telling you this, but the time I'm from Dumbledore had been murdered on the castle grounds by one of his own staff. After that the wizarding world fell into a depression and Voldemort started attacking everywhere even the Muggles freely. He died at the end of my sixth year. Then as things start getting worse I receive this letter from my p… I mean a friend and the next thing I know I'm here." Harry told her.

"That is bad. If we lost Dumbledore I don't know what would happen to us. He is the only hope we have with Ministry being so incompetent and all." She said.

Harry laughed. "I guess some things just never change."

"What's that mean?" Lily asked.

"The Ministry. In the future it never changes. It is actually all their fault we were in the predicament we were in the first place. If they had only listened to me and Dumbledore we would have been ready, but no they said we were lying and then all that crap happened. The stupid bastards will never learn I swear." Harry said.

Lily laughed. "So why don't you tell me about yourself."

Harry started to tell her his story leaving out vital parts about his life like who his parents were certain details that he knew about Voldemort's fall and resurrection, and anything else that might give away himself. It felt weird to talk about himself in the third person, but he knew he had to do it. He also left out most of his child hood because that would have been a dead give away to who might be.

When he had finished telling his life story, Harry had heard the familiar voice of his aunt yell for Lily to come down for dinner. She left telling him that she would try and knick some food for him, but he waved her off and told her not to worry he could fend for himself if he had too.

About a half-hour later Lily can back up having smuggled up some bread for him to snack on. He ate gratefully realizing how hungry he really was at the moment.

After finishing his meager meal, Lily started telling him stuff about her childhood. Her parents had died two years ago and since then she had been living with her "horrible" sister, Petunia, and her then fiancé, now husband. They hated here because she was a witch, but they had still taken care of her. She also went on a rant about "that James Potter." Harry just smiled getting to hear about his dad a little, and when she had asked him why he was smiling he refused to answer her till she stopped.

When they finished talking they decided to get some sleep so Harry conjurored a cot and draped his invisibility cloak over it and disillusioned him self and lied down and fell asleep with a smile on his face for the first time in a long time.

* * *

When Harry awoke the next day it was already light outside and Lily was gone. He got up and as he was about to sneak down the hall to the bathroom Lily walked in with a plate of food.

"Here you go, Harry. I got you some food. My sister went out to do some shopping and Vernon is at work so it is safe for you walk around, Petunia should be back in a few hours. Why don't you eat then you can go take a shower." She told him with a smile.

Harry accepted and sat down on her bed and ate his meal quickly hungry from the lack of food the last day. Lily just sat in a chair reading what looked like the seventh year charms text.

Harry finished and walked down the hall to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and he heard someone come up the steps. He figured it was just Lily and finished getting dressed. When he finished he heard a piercing scream that could only be from Lily. He grabbed his wand and rushed for Lily's room.

When he stepped into the doorway, he couldn't believe what he saw.

There was a figure in a silk dark robe and a head of messy black hair. The figure had his back to him. He then saw his mother lying like a board on her bed. The figure was bending over her starting to rip her top off. The world seemed to stand still and Harry had what he could only describe as an out of body experience. He watched his body in slow motion raise his wand.

It then shouted "**_AVADA KEDAVRA!_**"

The figure whirled around just as the giant green bean hit him. Harry then felt himself plummet back into his body and he fell down crying. His only thought, _What have I done?_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Well there is the first chapter. Who do you think the figure was? I have never written a cliffhanger chapter before so this is my first one. I got most of the next chapter ready to be written so I'll work on it when I can. I hope you liked it. R&R


	2. Chapter 2 Serious Consequences and Revel

A/N: Welcome to the second chapter of Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time. First I would like to thank everyone that has reviewed. None of my stories have gotten reviews so quickly. On a quick note to **MadnessLover**: I know that 'STUPEFY!' would be Harry's first instinct, but as it said in the chapter Harry was having an out of body experience and he didn't have complete control of his body. Maybe I didn't make that quite clear, but I hope this clears that up. As to the out of body out of control experience that is expanded upon on this chapter and it is a part of the story I have purposely put in there. I promise that it will be explained, just let me get to it. Well on to the show. I'll say some more near the end.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 2: Serious Consequences and Revelations

_He watched his body in slow motion raise his wand._

_It then shouted "**AVADA KEDAVRA!**"_

_The figure whirled around just as the giant green bean hit him. Harry then felt himself plummet back into his body and he fell down crying. His only thought/What have I done/_

Harry just continued to sob as Lily felt the body bind released because its caster had died. She looked over and saw Harry sobbing and then looked down and spit on the person that had been trying to rape.

She got out of the bed and kicked the body think, _Served the bastard right_.

She went over to Harry concerned and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Ok! I just killed someone with an Unforgivable no less!" Harry said a little hysterical.

"It's ok you were defending me, surely the Ministry will understand." Lily said trying to comfort the distraught Harry.

"No, I used an Unforgivable, they will put me Azkaban for life!" Harry said not taking comfort.

"Why do you keep calling the Killing Curse an Unforgivable? I've never heard of it like that before." She said confused to his words.

"Oh, I forgot the Ministry doesn't pass that law for another year or two. Basically there are three Unforgivable Curses. They are the Killing Curse, Imperious Curse, and the Crucitas Curse. The use of any of them on another human merits a life sentence in Azkaban. He he, but I still killed someone. That will still get me in Azkaban." Harry said now depressed.

"Potter deserved it. The damn bastard was trying to rape. I hope he rots in hell." Lily said in disgust.

"Did you say Potter?" Harry said in a frightened tone.

"Yah so. I think he had lost it. He kept going on about something making me his own or something like that. He really hasn't been right since his parents died last year." She said with any remorse.

Harry just ignored her and crawled over to James Potter's body turning it over and looking at its face.

"This can't be. Why would he have done this? He was supposed to turn around this year. What have I done?" Harry said all this under breath so Lily couldn't hear him.

Then something dawned on Harry. "It couldn't be, could it?" Harry said this loud enough for Lily to hear as he dove over to his trunk and dug through his stuff to the bottom.

Sure enough there was the little leather photo album Hagrid had given him his first year. He opened it and looked at the very first picture.

For the second time that day it seemed like time slowed down all around Harry. He looked at the picture of his parents in his photo album. When he looked closer at the figure of his father, the eyes flickered from the deep brown of James Potter to the blazing emerald of his own and the figure lifted up its hair and showed the faint trace of Harry's famous lightening bolt shaped scare.

Harry snapped it shut as he noticed Lily sliding over to look at the album he had pulled out. He then shoved it back into his trunk and started throwing stuff back into it. He went to pick up a piece of parchment he had thrown out and he felt a twinge of magic run through his hand. He looked down and saw the note that had started this whole thing in the first place.

He looked at and the old message faded and the parchment elongated and a new message appeared.

Dear Harry,

We are sorry that we had to do this to you. We knew what would happen if Dumbledore died and we weren't around to help you with your task (James or as you now know yourself: Trust me I have seen what could happen and it isn't pretty). That is why we have sent you a letter that was a Temporal Portkey.

You should know what you should do now. You must find the Horcruxes and destroy them. Dumbledore was right when he suspected there were seven of them. We aren't sure what they are or where they might be, but you must find them. We were able to find the Hufflepuff Cup and were close to finding the Ravenclaw artifact, but we think Tom is catching on to us. Everything you need to find and destroy the Horcruxes and how to create Temporal Portkeys you can find in the Potter family vault. Don't worry the vault will know who you are and let you in. Just present them with your current key and ask for the family vault and the goblins will take you down to it.

And don't worry Lily won't be able to read this till you decide to share it with her. We believe in you. We are sure you will do the right thing.

With all our love,  
Harry and Lily Potter

P.S. Don't let my older self (Lily) get a hold of this until you are ready to tell here who you really are because I will be able to break the charm that keeps myself from reading this.  
P.P.S. Don't tell anyone other than Lily about this, even Dumbledore. She is the only one that needs to know. Anyone else would just be a distraction.

"What is it Harry? I can't read the note. It is all blurred for some reason." Lily said trying to look over his shoulder.

"It's nothing. It was just a note one of my friends sent me." Harry said trying to sound off-handedly as he put the letter in his trunk and sealed it with a password ward he had learned in Defense the past year.

"What was that all about?" Lily asked him.

"It was nothing, but what are we going to do about him?" Harry said jerking his head towards James now lifeless body.

"I say we just let the Ministry take care of it, but if you really have a problem with the Ministry you could just impersonate him. I'm sure you could do it. You would be much better anyways. From the sounds of it you are nice person and we could always use more people like that." Lily said.

Harry thought about. He didn't know much about how Sirius and Remus had been they were young or his James for that manner. But, that was a plus. He would be able to get to know them better. But, how would he act around them or for that matter around Peter. He wasn't sure if he could be around the rat and control himself, knowing what he would do in the future. But, wait he could change that couldn't he? And what about Snape? Harry knew he would have problems around him. He might kill the man on the spot.

After considering it carefully Harry spoke, "Won't his friends notice the change? I hardly know him except for what you have told me. And that Dumbledore has a way of knowing stuff that no one else does. Plus my eyes and this thing will give me away as not being Potter."

"I'll tell you all about his friends. His one friend, Lupin, really nice and I can tell you all about the other two. And Dumbledore, all he does is use a subtly form of Legilimency that is able to read your surface thoughts. I can help you with a technique called Occlumency that will help you out. I know enough to keep that out, and Dumbledore refuses to actively probe a students mind. We can deal with that till September 1st and you can do whatever else you need to get done. As for the eyes, I can charm them the right color and hide the scar. It would just involve a simple glamour charm." Lily told him.

"Alright…I guess I'll do it, but I am going to need to pick some things up first. I'll be back in a few hours. Then we can get out of this house. You shouldn't have to deal with this shit." Harry said after a moment of hesitation.

Lily's eyes started to sparkle when Harry mentioned getting out of her sister's house. "Really? You mean it?" She asked hopefully.

"As long as every thing goes according to plan, I should be able to find a place to stay and you are welcome to come if you would like. Now why don't you charm my face so I'm not given away." He said.

She took his wand and charmed his face. When Lily tried to charm his scar however it wouldn't disappear completely. She managed to get it to fade however, so that now it just looked like a regular scar from a cut that hadn't been properly healed, magically that is.

Once he was all charmed he took his wand away and apparated to The Leaky Cauldron. "Hello, Tom." He said passing by the bar tender not thinking.

"Do I know you?" Tom asked him. Then he looked up and said, "Oh, it's you Master Potter. You have had people worried about you. No one has heard from you in days. Your friend Sirius Black was just asking about you the other day."

"Sorry about any trouble. I have had some things to take care of. If any of my friends come looking for me just tell them that I'll meet them on the train on September 1st." Harry told the not so old bartender.

Tom nodded and gave him a weird look before hurrying to take care of another customer.

Harry just shrugged the look off and continued on to the back and out to the opening to Diagon Ally. He tapped the bricks to get and hurried off down the ally towards the snowy white building in the distance.

Harry reached Gringotts and hurried off inside and got in line for a teller.

When Harry reached the teller he took out his vault key and asked to go to his family vault. The goblin looked at the key very closely and then gave Harry a scrutinizing look that made him very uncomfortable.

"Very well, Mr. Potter, I will have Griphook take you down immediately." He told him and called a goblin by one of the doors leading down to the vaults.

The goblin came over and escorted Harry out of the lobby to one of carts. They both climbed in and they began the ride.

After about twenty minutes of breakneck speeds and hairpin turns they reached a huge vault. Griphook got out and announced, "Vault number 5 Potter Family Vault."

The doors looked to be made out of dark red granite and it had a plate of gold at about shoulder height that had "Potter" inset in rubies at the top of it and the out line of a hand on the lower part.

"This is an old family vault and seeing as such the only way for one to gain access is to place your hand on the outline and state your **true** whole name." Griphook said given him a meaningful look.

Harry hesitated and then placed his hand on the plate and spoke aloud, "Harry James Potter."

A straight cut appeared to the left of the plate that spanned from floor to ceiling. Then with a great groan the granite slabs slid out and Harry looked into his family vault. He stepped in and he could see shelves of books in the far right corner. Next to it on the back wall were glowing weapons of all shapes and sizes. In the back left corner there piles up to the ceiling of galleons and then the section in front of that was the same with sickles and then the section in the left corner closes to him were knuts.

Then on the right side in the middle section could see art work and what looked muggle file cabinets. And, in the corner to his right there were furniture, clothes, other various things that would go in a household.

"Griphook, are there house deeds and such here also?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. You will find them over there in those filing cabinets, the third one from the right. I will await you back out in the tunnel take all the time that you need." Griphook told him with a bow and went back outside.

The first thing Harry did was stuff his money bag, which he had enlarged back in Lily's room, full of galleons. He then went over to the book shelves and picked put several books on advanced charms and several really old texts that looked useful. He also grabbed a few ancient looking dark arts books that looked like they might have information on Horcruxes.

Once he got all the books that he thought would be useful he went over to the file cabinet and found the one that Griphook had told him about. He looked through it and sure enough there was a dead for a manor house in Godric's Hollow. He grabbed the supplied apparition coordinates and the portkey for those that couldn't apparate yet. Once he had made sure everything was stored in his enlarged back pack he stepped out.

"Back then? Well get in the cart and we will be on our way." Griphook said seeing him exit the vault.

Harry jumped in the cart and they set off back to the lobby. After another twenty minute thrilling cart ride he exited through the bank doors with one more stop in mind for his trip today.

He pulled his rob tighter around him and kept his head down just like everyone else was doing and started to walk towards Flourish and Blotts. Harry was relieved to see that the store was around in this time and he walked in.

"I would like any new books for 7th year NEWT's at Hogwarts for: Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Potions." Harry asked politely.

The clerk quickly found all the books as Harry went back and found book on occlumency.

"Ok. That will be 10 galleons for your 2 new school books and another galleon for the one you picked out. That brings your total to 11 galleons." The clerk told him ringing up his purchases.

Harry counted out 11 galleons from his money bag and stuffed the books into his almost full back pack. Harry thanked the clerk and he stepped outside. Once Harry was outside he tried to apparate, but when he did he felt a big amount of pressure slam him back onto the ground.

Harry rubbed his butt while a girl giggled at him.

"What?" Harry asked indignantly.

"Don't you read the papers there has been a warning about apparition wards for the past two months. You just hit them. That is why you fell on your ass." The girl told him before walking off.

Harry just cursed and stood back up. Just as Harry finished dusting himself off he heard screams coming from the direction of the Leaky Cauldron followed by a small explosion. Harry cursed and ran up the street towards the Leaky Cauldron.

Just on this side of the barrier to Diagon Ally there was a group of six Deatheaters sending curses at people and buildings. Harry saw the girl from just a few minutes ago running at him when a deadly green curse collided with her in the back and she fell at Harry's feet lifeless. Harry then heard another Deatheater shout the killing curse and he saw jet of green light heading straight for him.

Harry dived to the side and he saw another curse that had been fired at where he dived. He didn't have time to dodge this one because he was lying prone on the ground. Then just like earlier when he had killed James time slowed down and he lost control of his body.

His body just rolled over really quickly and stood up said, "_Potentio Mutiplo Stupefy!_" He saw a huge red light leave his wand and it then separated into 30 different beams. Each Deatheater tried to through a shield up but they couldn't concentrate enough because of the blazing light that was hurdling towards them. Those that did weren't any luckier though. Each Deatheater got hit by all five stunners that got shot at them, those that had raised shields had their shields shattered as they were hastily constructed and couldn't hold out against the five very powerful Harry. Every single Deatheater fell to the ground with bloody noses.

But, it had been no use. Ten Deatheaters stepped out of the now clear entrance, but for some reason the Deatheaters weren't able to revive their fallen comrades. They just shrugged it off and turned to Harry.

Harry just watched with amazement with no control over his body. His body didn't wait for the Deatheaters to attack however. It shouted a spell that Harry knew he had never heard of before, "**_Jabitha!_**"

An emerald flame shaped like a lightening bolt shot out of his wand and skewered two Deatheaters that were still trying to revive their fallen soldiers.

Harry watched his body shoot another few bolts of the emerald flame and the Deatheaters dived to the sides after the second one passed straight through one of their shield (The Deatheater is using a shield against magic this a bolt of actually fire). Harry's body then shouted, "**_Incurxitialus!_**"

Then it took off at a dead run into the Leaky Cauldron. Once it was inside Harry felt the familiar sensation of his consciousness plummeting back into his body. Inside there were another five Deatheaters that looked surprised to see him in their. Harry panicked and he managed to see all five Deatheaters shoot the Killing Curse at him as he disapparated and a large group of Auror apparated in.

Harry reappeared in Lily's room and collapsed onto her bed. He almost passed out, but he managed to stay conscious. He panted for a little while before Lily came back into here room.

"Is that you, Harry?" Lily said coming into the room. Lily walked into the room with only a towel wrapped around her chest. She had been taking shower. But, when she saw Harry laying on here bed panting with cuts and scraps on his face she forgot about holding her arms down and she rushed over to Harry.

"Harry, are you ok? What happened?" She asked concern washing over her.

"Deatheaters…Diagon Ally." Harry managed to get out.

"Was anyone heart? Did anyone call the Aurors?" Lily asked frightened.

"Harry took a few deep breaths and managed to sit. Lily backed away. When Harry looked at her he blushed.

"What?" She asked seeing his blush, but then she looked down and saw that here towel had slid down a bit and was coming close to revealing her chest to Harry. "Oh! I'll be right back." She grabbed some clothes and rushed back to the bathroom.

Harry was embarrassed as he continued to catch his breath and had to fight through another dizzy spell before Lily reappeared properly clothed.

"So tell me what happened." Lily said as she sat down in the chair at her little desk.

"I was at Diagon Ally taking care of some business. After I had finished I was heading back to the Leaky Cauldron to apparate out when I heard some screams and an explosion." Harry continued recounting the events of the day even telling her about his weird experience when he fought the Deatheaters (he also filled her in on how it had happened when James had tried to rape her).

Lily was equally puzzled but agreed to look in to it when they reached Hogwarts.

Harry had suggested they leave now, but Lily demanded that he rest and forced him to do so.

Harry fell asleep instantly because he was no longer trying to fight the exhaustion.

Harry awoke the next day at nine o'clock. Lily had been up since eight and had packed up all her stuff.

Once Harry was up he put his bags from the past day into his trunk and made sure he had everything that he had used the past two days.

Once he was done Lily asked, "Are you ready to go now? I wrote a note that explained a little about where I had gone for my sister, so we can just leave from here if you want." She said anxious to leave.

Harry shook his head. "I think it is time someone taught your sister and her husband a few manners. I'm going to have a little fun. You are welcome to watch if you want." Harry said with a grin.

"Really? Cool!" Lily said with a mischievous grin on her face.

Harry nodded and opened the door and purposely stomped down the stairs hitting every creaky step and floorboard he could remember.

"GIRL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MAKING ALL THAT RUCKUS?" An all too familiar male voice shouted from the kitchen.

Harry just blew the kitchen door off its hinges and stepped into the door.

"Hello Vernon, Petunia. I think it is time for someone to show you how to treat people properly," Harry said coolly as it seemed like venom dripped off his words in the air.

They cringed when Harry whipped out his wand. "I wonder how I should kill you. There are so many wonderful spells I could use." Harry said as he twirled his wand.

The two Dursleys looked on in fear and horror. Harry laughed at their faces. "Don't worry, I was only kidding I won't hurt you, though you do deserve it for how you have treated your own sister. This is a warning. If I ever find out that you ever even try to lay a single finger on Lily or any of her magical friends or relatives, I will personally come back from the grave and haunt you for the rest of your lives making it a living hell that is if I am died. If I am still alive I will make sure that you never see the light again for the rest of your lives, which I assure you will be a very very long time. This warning applies to any children you two horrible people happen to have. And now for a parting gift," Harry waved his wand and twin beams of red light exited his wand and knocked the Dursleys out.

"That was priceless. Thanks Harry. As mush as I would love to stay," Lily said this with much sarcasm, "Let's get going. How are we getting there?"

"Portkey. Touch this paper and grab a hold of your trunk." He waited for her to touch the piece of paper and then said, "_Godric's Hollow Activate!_"

They felt the tug behind their navel as the portkey activated and a few seconds later they both landed in a rich garden on fertile green lawn.

A/N: So? What do you think of the second chapter? In the next chapter: training and the rest of the summer. I hope that I expanded a little on Harry's little experiences. I hope you have enjoyed it. R&R!

A/N (2): (Added October 13, 2006) I have been getting alot of reviews for this chapter about how this is not possible. You must understand how I look at time. The way I look at time is whenever someone would change time an alternate universe would be created. As more and more universes are created all the realities start to deteriorate. Eventually they would all collapse on each other and the universe would be destroyed or it would be one hell of a messed up place. James going psycho is one of the signs that the universes are starting to unravel. Somewhere back a few jumps, Harry was the child of the real James Potter and Lily Potter. So he would be able to get into the Potter vault, but James Potter would only have been his Great-Great-(Keep going I haven't decided how far back it should go) Grand Father, while Lily Potter is his Mother. If you still don't like my story then please don't read. I won't force you.


	3. Chapter 3 Summer’s New Beginning

A/N: Well I must say I am surprised by the response I have gotten from this story. I hope that I can keep meeting your expectations. I will try to answer any questions you have, but things will start becoming clearly as I decide to reveal them. In response to **Dr. Misaki: **Thank you for the constructive criticism. Reading back over my first chapter I really see what you were saying. Although Lily did say that Harry reminded her of someone from school, and Harry can't look exactly like James, similar but not an exact replica. I realize I could really use a beta reader. Matter fact I just realized a hole that I left in chapter 2 the night after I posted it and I am going to patch it up in this chapter. I will try to put a little more description in the character interactions. Thank you again I enjoy the constructive criticism. Some reviewers would just flame and stop reading.Well I hope you enjoy this, the third chapter.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 3: Summer's New Beginning

"_Portkey. Touch this paper and grab a hold of your trunk." He waited for her to touch the piece of paper and then said, "Godric's Hollow Activate!"_

_They felt the tug behind their navel as the portkey activated and a few seconds later they both landed in a rich garden on fertile green lawn._

They both looked up from the garden and saw a decent sized two story house. Harry thought it looked more like a summer cottage than a manor house, but he just shrugged it off. But, still Harry had to admit that it certainly did look regal.

"So shall we go inside?" Harry asked Lily who was looking at the house with awe.

"It's beautiful, Harry. Where did you manage to find it?" Lily asked him.

"It is an old family house. I had remembered earlier that it had been abandoned during this time, so I thought I…I mean we could use it for the rest of summer, and then we won't need to use it once we are back Hogwarts. So let's go in now." Harry said pushing Lily gently in the small of her back towards the house.

Harry and Lily walk towards the house. They reached the door and Harry went to open the door when he felt a small tingle of magic go through his arm and then into the rest of his body. Harry smiled a bit. The deed had said something about blood wards.

Harry opened the door and stepped over the threshold.

Lily went to follow, but she hit an invisible wall, "Oww, what was that?"

"There are blood wards on the house. The only ones that can pass must be in the blood line of the family or have been explicitly invited by one that is." Harry told her.

"Well would you invite me in already? I don't want to be out her all summer." Lily said a little impatient.

"I will, but all you need to do is just say please." Harry teased.

Lily growled. Harry held his hands up and said, "Fine, I give up. I, Harry, officially invite you into my family's manor house at Godric's Hollow."

A faint glow came off Harry and encased Lily and then faded. Lily stepped through the door this time without a problem.

"So should we explore? I've never been here myself." Harry asked.

Lily nodded.

First they explored the first floor. The whole house was decorated in Gryffindor colors. The first floor had a dining room that was connected to a magnificent kitchen. There was also a sitting room with a fire place and many chairs and a few coffee tables. The next they found was just a loo. After that they walked into a huge den that had two desks and a few comfortable chairs. The chairs were arranged around a fire place that was tall enough for people to use comfortable for flooing to places. And, the last bit, one that particularly excited Lily, they noticed about the den was the small library they found in a corner of the room.

Once they were done exploring the first floor they moved up the stairs to the second floor. The first two rooms they looked into were just a bath room and a normal, if not large, bedroom. The next room they thought was the master suite. It had its own attached bathroom and it was the only room so far that wasn't done completely in Gryffindor colors. Instead it stuck to a blue color scheme, with navy blue being the dominant color.

All thoughts of that being the master suite were lost when they walked into the next room. There was a huge king sized slay bed that was made from cherry. The sheets were made of fine silk and everything just looked so ornate and rich. There were three doors in the room. The first door led to an equally magnificent bathroom that was made of red marble with gold fixtures. There was a large tub with magical jets set all over the basin. It would best even the best of muggle hot tubs. There was also a shower that was large enough for at least two people. There was a toilet that looked more like more like a throne than a toilet. The vanity also had two sinks with a mirror that stretched out in front of both of them.

After admiring the bathroom, they went through the next door and found a study with two matching desks and its own private library that looked to house some rarer more ancient texts than the one down stairs.

Curious to what could be in third door they went in there. The third door actually led to another smaller bedroom that was outfitted to take care of a baby. Harry had the fleeting thought that this had probably been his room when he was a baby. This room also connected to the main hall.

When they came out of the hall Harry remember something he had forgotten and exclaimed, "Shit!" He then tried to apparate and got slammed back down and he realized there were apparition wards on the house.

Harry just cursed, jumped up, and ran down the stairs. Lily tried to follow him, but the moment he was down the stairs he zipped through the front door and disappeared with a pop.

* * *

Harry all of a sudden remembered they had never gotten rid of James body. When he did he rushed out of the house and apparated into Lily's old room. 

Sure enough the body was still there. Right as he popped in the bed room door opened up, and Harry saw Petunia in the doorway.

"Your still here are you?" She said with her nose sticking up. She paused however as she looked around the room. Lily had taken most of her stuff and the bed and curtains were about the only thing left. She was pleased that her freak of a sister had cleared her stuff out of her house, but then she spotted the body.

Petunia let out a screech. Harry followed where her eyes were looking and cursed. She had spotted James' body. Harry quickly stunned her before she could get away and brought her into the room. He started to panic. He had no clue how to Oblivate someone.

What was he going to do? Not knowing what to do, he popped back over to Godric's Hollow.

He rushed into the house and shouted out, "LILY!"

Lily rushed out of the den when she heard her name called thinking that Harry was in trouble. "What is it? Is everything ok?" She asked worried.

"I'm fine. Do you know how to Obliviate someone?" Harry asked a little frantic.

"I can do basic stuff, but I can't get erase more than five minutes on any single person. Why do you need to Obliviate someone though? And, what was with the rush earlier?" Lily asked placing her hands on hips more than a little irritated.

"We forgot about James' body. We just left it in your room." A look of horror passed over Lily's face. "When I went back to get rid of it your Aunt walked in and spotted the body. I stunned her before she could get away and locked your door, so I need someone to Obliviate her or we are going to be in trouble. She was only there for about a minute." Harry told her.

"Fine! How are we going to get there?" Lily asked.

"I'll take you along in side-along apparition." Harry told her as if it was obvious.

Lily opened her eyes in shock. "You can do that? Have you performed it before?"

"Once and it really didn't seem that hard. You just need to concentrate really hard to make sure both people make it." Harry told her.

Lily looked at him skeptically, "Are you sure?" She was clearly worried.

Harry nodded his head. "Come on lets get this over with." Harry gestured for her to move outside.

Still looking skeptical she followed him out the door. "What do I need to do?"

"Just come here and relax a little." He had her come over and Harry gripped her forearm. She winced a little but didn't say a word.

Harry closed his eyes and made sure to concentrate extra hard and step forward. He felt the immense pressure and then it was gone. Harry opened his eyes and they had made it.

"Is that what apparition really feels like?" Lily asked.

"Ya. It is a little worse with side-along apparition, but that is pretty much what it feels like. You get use to it eventually I hear. The last few times I've apparated it really hasn't affected me much as my first time." Harry told her.

Once he verified they both still had all their body parts, he turned her, "So, here is my wand. Oblivate her to forget from the time she opened the door till she passed out." He handed over his wand.

Harry watched as she shut her eyes before she raised the wand and pointed it at her aunt. A pale blue light issued from the wand and encased Petunia.

"Ok. It's done. I'm not sure if I did it right, but there is only one way to find out." Lily told Harry. She went to raise the wand.

Harry stopped her, "We need to get rid of this first." He pointed to James' body.

"Ya, right. I'll be easier if you do it, this being your wand and all. A strong 'Evanesco' should do the trick." Lily said handing Harry his wand back.

Harry accepted the wand and screwed his eyes up in concentration. He pointed the wand and shouted, "**_Evanesco!_**"

All of James disappeared except for a few strands of hair, his clothes, and his glasses

Harry shrugged, "I could never quite get that down. I could use the glasses and robes though. They are nicer than my own and we were built similarly." Harry picked up the robes.

Harry shrunk the robes and shoved them with the glasses into his pocket. "I guess we should wake your sister up now. _Ennervate._"

Petunia woke up. "What happened? Why am I in floor and what in the world are you two doing here?" She asked her face starting to draw taught.

"You walked in and fainted, and we were just leaving." Lily said and offered her arm to Harry.

Harry took her arm and concentrated closing his eyes and with the normal pressure disappeared. Then the pressure stopped and they were back outside Godric's Hollow.

"Well now that that is taken care of lets get properly settled in." Harry said and held the door open for Lily to walk in.

"Oh. I moved my stuff into that room in blue. I figured I would let you have the master suite since it was your family house." Lily told him.

"Thanks." I'll be right back. Harry floated his trunk up the stairs and Lily walked into the den.

Harry took his stuff into the Master suite and unpacked his clothes and some of the books he had taken from the Potter family vault. Once he had everything unpacked he looked around one last time and he turned to leave and he heard a crack.

"Master Potter, it is an honor for Larry to be seeing for the first time in so many years." Harry could se that the squeaky voice had come from a house-elf that was now bowing so low its squashy nose was pressed against the floor.

"Umm…Hi, Larry." Harry said not sure what to say.

The house-elf looked up sharply and looked Harry in the eyes. "You're not Master James. What are you doing in Master's house?" The house-elf raised its hand at Harry ready to defend its master's property.

"No. I'm not James, but I am a Potter. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell Lily that I'm a Potter." Harry said trying to quickly calm the angry elf.

The elf gave him a suspicious look. "How does Larry know that you aren't a bad man trying to trick poor hard working Larry?"

"I got into the house didn't I? I'm sure you can tell that the wards are still in place and I am clearly safely inside. And, if that isn't enough I command you to lower your hand. I am not here to hurt you, so I expect the same from you." Harry commanded the elf.

The elf reluctantly lowered its hand as if it was forced by some invisible hand. "See only a Potter could command you to do that. Now I don't want any trouble. Lily and I will be staying here till we leave for Hogwarts. I don't ask much. Just do as you normally would. Also I believe Lily's birthday is coming up and I would like to have a cake for her if that isn't much trouble. I could never cook them right. They always fell in the oven." Harry told the elf.

Larry bowed his head. "I understand, Master. I will do as you command. What time would Master like breakfast and dinner to be served at?"

"I think breakfast will be fine at about nine o'clock and dinner at about six would be good." Harry went to dismiss the elf when he added, "Oh and Larry call me Harry, just never mention Potter. You may go now."

"Thank you, Master P…Master Harry. And, Master, Larry is sorry for how he treated you earlier. Larry saw you and didn't recognize you. Me thought you were here to rob my Master's stuff. I will go now." Larry said and bowed and with a crack disappeared.

Harry sighed in relief. He then opened the door and went down stairs to find Lily. She was in the den reading a book. When she heard the door open she looked up.

"What took you so long, Harry?" She asked curiously.

"It turns out there was a family house-elf. I had to convince him I was part of the family." Harry said shrugging his shoulders.

"So what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Lily asked returning to her book.

"Relax, I guess. Larry should have dinner ready in about an hour. I'm going to look through some books I got in Diagon Ally and the private study upstairs." Harry said.

Lily just mumbled and waved her hand as she kept reading the book she had started.

Harry chuckled. She was a lot like Hermione when she got started on an interesting book. "Well I'll see you at dinner."

Lily mumbled something else, so Harry just left and went back upstairs and entered his private house.

Harry spent the hour before dinner looking through the texts that had been in the small private library. One of the first volumes he looked through had been on wards.

When the hour was up, Harry heard a crack.

"Master Harry dinner is being ready now. I will now go inform Ms. Lily now." Larry disappeared with a crack.

Harry shook his head. He would never get use to the quirky personality that most house-elves had.

Harry made his way down the dining room. Lily was already there. They say down and ate dinner not really talking much. They both finished and they then went back to what they were doing.

Harry looked through a few more books on wards, one of which was on the Fidelus Charm. He then moved on to the books on more advanced magic. He was able to find the unknown spell he had cast in Diagon Ally.

It was called Emerald Lightening. It shot emerald flames in the shape of a lightening bolt. It will catch anything it touches on fire, and the flames were extremely difficult to dispel.

He was also able to find the shield he had used. I was on extremely old shield that required a lot of power to be useful. But, to those that were powerful enough it could be strong enough to hold up against almost any spell short of the Unforgiveables and several other unblockable spells.

Harry started to feel tired around nine. He got a pair of pajamas out of the dresser he had put his clothes in. He grabbed a book on Quidditch that Ron had given him for Christmas one year and lied in bed reading when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come in." He called out.

Lily came in. She was in her pajamas and her red hair was still dripping a little bit from her shower.

"I just wanted to say good night." She told him.

"I've been meaning to ask, when is your birthday?" Harry asked her.

"Its three days on the fourth. Why do you want to know?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"It just seems to be a hassle to have you always using my wand and plus it will be easier to get around if you can learn to apparate. Side-along apparition tends to take a bit out of you." Harry said with a smile.

Lily shook her head and obviously didn't entirely believe his excuse. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight and Larry is serving breakfast at nine." Harry said waving her off.

Lily backed out the door and shut it.

* * *

That night when Harry fell asleep there wasn't a smile on his face. Instead it slowly worsened first to a scowl of anger and then into a deep frown. In Harry's head he had started out seeing what he thought Voldemort might be doing in the future with both him and Dumbledore gone. It had pissed him off, but he realized there was nothing he could do for them but try and change the future for the better since he was trapped in the past. 

Then Harry started reliving all his worst memories like he had his own personal army of Dementors surrounding him, but not giving him the mercy of nothingness by sucking out his soul.

Outside of Harry's head he eventually started to sob, and as the memories got worse so did his sobs. Eventually it turned into one of his nightmares of old and he was thrashing and yelling in his bed. The entire time he didn't wake.

It got so loud that Lily had even awoken. She rushed from her room and into Harry's. She tried calling out his name, but it didn't wake him. And, there was no point in shaking him he was already thrashing violently.

Running out of ideas on what to do she spotted his wand on the table. She picked up off the table and pointed it at him, "_Aquamenti!_"

A spurt of water shot out of the wand and hit Harry, but Harry didn't wake. He keep thrashing as his screams got even loader.

Lily had thought that would work. Not sure what else to do she raised the wand again and shouted over his screams, "**_Ennervate!_**"

A blinding light issued from the wand and hit Harry. Phoenix song filled the room and Harry shot up awake with tears stopping, but they were still there ready to be shed on moments notice.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked in a little voice. Harry was sitting up in bed with his chest bare.

"Ya. Just nightmares." Harry said looking away wiping his eyes clear.

"Do you want to talk about them? It helps sometimes to share your troubles with others." Lily said looking back Harry fighting her embarrassment because of his bare chest.

Harry looked up and momentarily stared into the depths of her eyes. It only lasted for a second, but to Harry it seemed like an eternity.

He looked away and said, "No. I'm fine. I was just seeing some things that I never wanted to see again. I'll be fine. I don't want to trouble with my silly problems."

"They obviously aren't so silly. Trust me you shouldn't hold all it in. I made the same mistake. When my p…parents died, I," She stopped for a second fighting her tears. She started back again after a stifled sob, "When they died, I had horrible nightmares. All I had was Petunia left and she hated me. I thought there was nothing left. The nightmares got worse. That was the toughest summer I have ever had to go through. I almost didn't return to Hogwarts, but it was the only thing I had left besides Petunia."

Harry was looking at her with a saddened expression. When they had talked earlier about herself, she had avoided the subject of the summer when her parents had died. Harry could even tell at that time that it had been a hard time. But, from what he could tell something had changed early on in that school year.

Lily didn't notice Harry staring at her and she continued her story, "When I returned to Hogwarts, I continued having nightmares. They never got any better. I didn't have any friends, not true friends at least. I was the nerd. That and James Potter always drove away any guy that ever tried to befriend me. I withdrew from the school almost completely. McGonagall even tried to talk to me, but I ignored her. I started to become trapped in my own head. All I had was the nightmares. I missed so many classes that one day McGonagall came to the common room and told her. I did. I didn't pay attention to anything we were passing. Eventually she pushed me onto a staircase that moved spiraling up. We came to a door and she pushed me through and then went back down the stairs." She stopped again to draw a shuddering breath.

Harry knew she was in Dumbledore's office. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he just stayed quiet. He had only ever lost Sirius and even then they hadn't been as close as Lily had been to her parents. Harry couldn't even imagine how she had felt.

Lily continued, "Professor Dumbledore was in the office. He asked me to sit down in a chair in front of his fire. He came over and sat in the other chair, and we both stared into the fire. After a few minutes of silence he started, 'Ms. Evans, I know this is a hard time for you. You have lost your parents, and from what I can tell your sister isn't… the most pleasant person in the world. I hate to see such a wonderful student, as yourself, just throw your life away like this.' Dumbledore let me think about that for a second. I'm not sure why I did it, there is just something about Dumbledore that makes it natural to trust him, but I told him about my nightmares that I was having. He just sat there and listened to me about all my nightmares. I told him how I would get lost even in my waking hours in the images that I saw at night. After I was done he gave me grandfatherly smile and said, 'I'm proud of you Ms. Evans. The first step in dealing with our problems is talking about them. I believe there is a way that we can help you with your nightmares also.' He got up and he went over to a bookshelf and pulled at a small book. 'Take this book, Ms. Evans. It should help you deal with your nightmares and your problem of being sucked into your memories during the times better spent in class or with friends. You may keep the book if you like. I have so many that I doubt I will miss it very much.' After that I started to feel a little better. I read the book he had given me and it was actually over Occlumency. The exercises organize your thoughts and it helps you to control your dreams or at least block them out." Lily finished her story.

Harry just watched her. At first she looked as if she might cry, but when she started to talk about Dumbledore she started to sober back up and a small smile even crept onto her face at the end.

After a moment of silence Lily shook herself, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said all that, but if you ever need to talk I'll listen. I think I'll also start teaching you Occlumency exercises tomorrow. For some reason I think this is a common occurrence for you." Lily didn't wait for a reply. She turned around and walked out the door closing it behind her.

Harry sat thinking for a little while about what she had told him. He would have loved to share what his dreams had been about, but he couldn't tell her most of them. It would reveal more about him than he wanted to share at the time.

Harry couldn't get back sleep. Harry got up and picked up his want that Lily had dropped when she had cast the spell to wake him up. Harry got dressed and grabbed some of the books that he wanted to start learning from.

Earlier when he had been reading through the personal library in the master suite, he had come across a book that detailed all the features of the house from the wards that had been cast to the underground training area that made up the house. He thought that it would be the perfect place to train for the summer.

Harry made his way down to the den and opened the hidden trap door and descended into the stone room.

* * *

A/N: Well there is the third chapter of my story. I hope that everyone will enjoy it. This is the longest chapter so far, which isn't saying much. I know I said this would be the rest of summer, but I was writing and there is a bit more that I want to add to the summer than I had originally planned on. I will make sure to finish the summer in the next chapter and after that it will be the train ride and maybe the first day of classes. I'm trying to keep chapters to seven or eight pages. That way even if I think of more I have something for the next chapter. On another note, I have decided, over the three days of writing this chapter, that I could use a beta reader. If you are interested please send me an email or I might open my Yahoo! Group back up and you can post there. The only requirement is that you have a good understanding of the cannon so far and that you are pretty good with grammar. Those are my main problems in my opinion. I have read so many fics sometimes I confuse parts of them with actual cannon, plus you can make sure I keep characters the way they are suppose to be. Well I won't say anymore. I'll start working on the next chapter probably later today. 


	4. Chapter 4 Summer's End

A/N: Well I'm just astounded at the response. I assure you that I will try my best not to abandon this story. Then again with these reviews coming the way they are I don't think inspiration will be a problem. I hope you like this chapter.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 4: Summer's End

_Earlier when he had been reading through the personal library in the master suite, he had come across a book that detailed all the features of the house from the wards that had been cast to the underground training area that made up the house. He thought that it would be the perfect place to train for the summer._

_Harry made his way down to the den and opened the hidden trap door and descended into the stone room._

Harry was practicing the Emerald Lightening spell when Larry popped down to inform him that breakfast was ready. Harry thanked the elf before he put up the target dummies he had been using. Harry then made his way up to the dining room.

"Where have you been?" Lily asked tapping her finger on the table impatiently, but Harry could tell she had just been worried. "I couldn't find you in the entire house."

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep so I have been training. There is a training area and potions lab in the basement." Harry told her.

Again the two ate in silence, though Harry had a reason because he was busy stuffing his face. Harry hadn't been able to eat much this summer. He had thought that if he took too much the Dursleys wouldn't have been so understanding.

"So…when will we start Occlumency training?" Harry asked breaking the silence that had befallen the room.

"Anytime you are ready. I don't really have much to do. I finished all my homework the first week back, so I'm just doing whatever till the fourth when I can go get my apparition license. Then I'm just waiting till school starts. I really don't know much else what to do." Lily said.

"Well let me go take a shower and then we can begin Occlumency. If it will help the nightmares, I'll do anything. I've been having them since the end of my first year, and they make it hard to sleep sometimes." Harry didn't wait for a response and left the dining room.

When Harry finished his shower he had a thought, "Larry!"

The little house-elf appeared and bowed to him, "How can Larry help, Master Harry?"

"I was wondering if you could check all the houses if any post has arrived for James. He asked me to forward everything to him. Check all the houses if you would, and if you would check everyday I'll make sure to get it all to him like he wanted me to. Just leave it on my bed." Harry told the elf.

"Larry will, Master Harry." The house-elf bowed low again and with a crack disappeared.

Harry finished getting ready and then walked downstairs. He found Lily in the den reading again. Harry chuckled.

"What?" Lily asked looking up from the book.

"It's just that every time I find you, you are reading a book. It reminds me of one of my old friends. She tends to read a lot too." Harry said as his eyes glazed over and he remembered his old friends.

"Well I see that we really should start those exercises." Lily said giggling.

Harry broke out of his daze and gave her a mock glare. "Then let's get started already."

Lily was a much better teacher than Snape had been. She explained to him how to meditate, which is harder to explain than to do. It took Harry the majority of the morning to finally succeed. Stray thoughts would always pop into his head right as he thought he had succeed, which in itself was a stray thought. Lily then explained that once your mind was completely blank that you had to visualize some sort of representation of your mind. Once that was done he had to build a wall around his memories. To block just passive, non-aggressive Legilimency that was sufficient, but if someone decided to forcibly probe your mind the wall would crumble.

That had been all Lily had done, since that was all she needed to do for the exercises to control her dreams. From there all he had to do was sort all the things he didn't want to be in a dream into another inner section that had also been walled off. Once there Harry would have to consciously access them or they wouldn't be able to affect him in any way. That, and the meditation tended to block dreams all together.

Lily did go along to describe how to block out aggressive attempts but didn't go further than describing the theory. Harry vowed that he would start that night on building the stronger wall and organizing his thoughts. Harry did this more to block Voldemort than to block Dumbledore. Because, if it came down to how Harry wanted things to happen, Harry would need any advantage he could possibly have once he had to face Voldemort.

Once they had finished, it was time for Lunch. This time while they ate, they talked. Lily told Harry about Remus, who she thought was actually a nice guy despite the people he hung out with, Sirius, who was as bad as "Potter", and then Peter, who seemed like he was just a tag-along. They also talked about the teachers. Harry heard a few more stories about Slughorn. Harry was glad to hear that Lily didn't like much being part of his Slug Club. He also heard about Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures professor, and Professor Hennessey, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

As they were finishing up with the food when an eagle owl flew in the open window and landed on Lily's now empty plate. It stuck its leg out and waited for Lily to take the bulging envelope. Lily reached over and detached the letter. The owl let out an indignant hoot and took off through the window.

"Who's from?" Harry asked.

Lily turned it over and looked at the seal, "It's from Hogwarts, but I've already gotten my school letter. I wonder what it is." She said as she opened it.

She unfolded the letter and a small badge fell out. She read the first few lines of the letter and squealed, "They made me Head-Girl!" She said it over and over again. She flung the letter on the table not even bothering to read the rest and picked up the shiny badge.

Harry grabbed the letter and read it through. When he got to the end he groaned.

Lily stopped her celebrating and looked at him. "What's wrong, Harry? This is a good thing."

"Just read the letter the rest of the way through." Harry told her mysteriously.

Lily curiously picked up the letter and started to read. She got to the end and squealed again. "This is so cool! You're the Head-Boy! This is going to be so cool!" She said going back to her celebrations.

Harry groaned and shook his head. While Lily was still celebrating, Harry called Larry.

"Yes, Master Harry. What can I be's doing for you now?" The elf said with the customary bow.

"Could you bring any letters from Hogwarts that James received down from my room, please?" Harry asked quietly.

The elf disappeared and then reappeared with a crack each time. He handed the letters to Harry and disappeared presumably going back to whatever he had been doing before.

Lily heard the final crack and looked up. "What did Larry want?"

"I asked him to collect all of James' letters. Since there are no more living Potters their properties are freely accessible to anyone, so I thought it would be wise to get James' letters." Harry hated lying to her even if it was only a small lie, but it had to be done.

Harry opened the first Hogwarts envelope. It was just the standard letter, though Harry was relieved to learn that James was taking all the subjects he himself would have been taking.

The second letter turned out to be the letter informing him that James had been made Head-Boy. Harry really didn't know what he would have to do being Head-Boy. He hadn't even been a prefect, but when he tried to point this out though, she pointed out that James hadn't been a prefect either.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to figure it out then. But, now it's time for me to get back to my training," Harry told her as he stood up.

"Wait. Can I watch you? Even though I love reading, it can get awfully boring." Lily put on the best puppy dog eyes she could and stared at him her lips trembling like she would cry if he said 'no.'

Harry laughed. "You don't have to beg. I would have said yes even without that."

Lily giggled. "I know, but I just couldn't resist."

Harry led her to the trap door and opened it. He gestured for her to go down first, and she did.

When they were both down there, Harry waved his wand conjuring a chair for her. "You stay there. I'll be firing curses that way. Some of them are rather nasty so I wouldn't go anywhere near my line of fire, just in case."

Lily gave him an inquiring look but sat down in the comfortable chair and started reading the book she had brought done.

Harry had finished up the Emerald Lightening spell when he had been called up for breakfast, so he next started on the shield charm he had used at Diagon Ally when he had run through the crowd of Deatheaters.

The charm had no name. The incantation was 'Incurxitialus.' The book he had found it in didn't say much about it though. It just said the effects could vary from caster to caster, but with the right person casting it, it could be one of the safest shielding charms. It did note that you should know this spell was at least as strong as a normal Protego Shield as long as it only gave of a brief white light or none at all. The shield was meant to be used as a surprise.

The first few times he tried to use it, it gave off a brief blue flashes and then faded. Harry however wasn't satisfied. He wanted to be able to cast the shield charm like his body had done at Diagon Alley, it hadn't flashed at all. He tried a few more times and started to get frustrated when it finally turned into a white flash instead. But, Harry still wasn't satisfied. The white light just seemed to frustrate him even further. He decided to give it one final go and cast the spell.

He smiled when it finally didn't flash at all, immediately forgetting his frustration.

"What are you smiling for? It didn't work that time." Lily said who had watching him for a little while.

"Fire a spell at me then." Harry said throwing her his wand. Harry immediately felt fatigued when his wand left his hand, but he could tell that the shield was still active. It was just drawing more power since the wand there to channel it directly into the shield.

Lily caught the wand and thought for a second. Harry just hoped she would hurry or he might black out from trying to use so much power. She then decided what she was thinking about. "_Potentio Mutiplo Stupefy!_" Thirty red beams shot out of the wand and every single one was aimed at Harry.

The beams sailed, and even thought that they would surely tear through his shield, but he was surprised when they didn't.

All thirty hit at once and he thought he was going to pass out, but he didn't. Every single was absorbed into the shield and then a gigantic beam exited from where Harry's belly button was located. When the beam had exited, Harry actually blacked out for a few seconds, but was awakened when he fell to the floor. Harry saw the beam collide with Lily, and she was shoved back a bit and fell to the floor unconscious. Harry crawled over and grabbed his wand. He immediately felt a little better, and then he released the shield.

He took a second to catch his breath. He hadn't been expecting the fatigue from the shield. Evidently he had put so much power into it that it combined all the stunners into one super stunner and fired it back. He thought that it would definitely be a powerful shield to use even against Voldemort especially if he could become more adept at channeling his magic at will (the more power channeled into the shield the better it is.)

Once he was able to walk around the room without getting dizzy he tried to revive Lily. It didn't work at first, but then he remembered that when a person got hit with multiple stunners that it took an equal amount of power to revive the person.

He pointed the wand at Lily and yelled, "**_Potentio Mutiplo Ennervate!_**" Thirty blue beams left his wand and all hit Lily in the chest.

Lily sat bolt up right, "What happened?" She asked confused.

"That shield you thought wasn't working reflected all thirty stunners back at you." Harry told her holding back his laughter.

"Go ahead and laugh! I'd like to see you get hit with thirty stunners and not get disoriented." She said angrily seeing Harry holding back his laughter.

Harry burst out laughing, "Sorry. It's just when you woke up that you had the most shocked expression I've ever seen on your face."

Lily just swatted his arm. "What do you need such a powerful shield for? It seems like over kill when fighting a Deatheater."

"Whoever said I would be fighting a single Deatheater or even someone more powerful?" Harry asked looking at her.

"Why would you fight more than one Deatheater or… Wait, you don't mean to say that you would fight Voldemort, do you?" Lily said with a frightened look on her face.

"That is exactly what I mean." Harry told her.

"But, why? Leave him to Dumbledore. He can take him out, I'm sure. He has after all beaten a Dark Lord before." Lily said, but she didn't continue when she saw Harry shaking his head.

"This fight isn't one that Albus Dumbledore can win. I have to fight this fight." Harry said with a solemn look on his face.

"But, why, Harry?" Lily asked now concerned.

"That is something I can't tell you, not yet at least." Harry said looking away.

"Why? Can't you trust me, Harry?" Lily asked hurt.

"It's not that I can't trust you. It's just not safe for anyone else to know. If I told you someone else could find out. Before you say you would never tell a soul, I must say I know that, but someone doesn't have to just ask to find out. They could tear through your mental shields, as you have already admitted was possible, and take the information directly from your brain. That is just a risk I can't take." Harry said looking back into her face. It was a little better than had been when she thought he didn't trust him.

"So, if I strengthen my shield you'll tell me?" Lily asked hopefully.

Harry thought about. "Yes, I'll tell you, but I must warn you it won't be everything about me. There are some things I am not ready to share yet."

"I understand. I'm feeling a little dizzy though. I think I will go up to my room and lay down for a little bit.

"Would you like any help up? That was a powerful stunner you took." Harry asked the one now concerned.

"No. I should be fine." Lily said starting up the ladder.

But, Lily was only half way up when her right foot slipped off the rung of the ladder. She managed to catch herself, but Harry still spoke up, "I think I will help you up. You must be a little dizzier than you thought."

Lily just nodded and Harry floated the ladder up so she didn't have to climb anymore. She got off and Harry brought the ladder back to the floor and climbed up himself. Harry followed her to the stairs. She stumbled a bit on the first stair and Harry walked up and put her over his shoulder. He was just short enough to get his shoulder under her arm comfortably, it was a wonder how much neglect could stunt your growth.

They continued up the stairs without much trouble.

When they reached her bedroom door, she took her arm off his shoulder. She mumbled a 'thank you' and with a blush gave him a quick peck on the check and went into her room.

Harry stood there dumbly and touched his check that had turned a shade of red that would rival anything a Weasley could have produced. Still a little struck at the little action, Harry went into his room.

Harry himself was tired also from the event earlier. He had decided on the way up that he would start on the sorting of his thoughts and the building of the dividers and the other various things he had to do to strengthen the mental wall he had put up earlier. The building and strengthening was the quickest part, and he could probably finish that tonight. It was just the sorting of fourteen years worth of memories that would take awhile (he doesn't remember much of anything before he was three, besides that one night).

So Harry began on his mental construction. The first bit was to think of all the categories he would need. He could always add more later, if he needed to, but it was easier to do it all at first. As he was finding places to place all the different areas in his brain, he stumbled across a wall that was as impenetrable as a two foot thick steel wall. Harry just figured it was his subconscious. He was closer than he could ever guess.

Harry just built around it. He was just finishing up when a loud crack brought him out of his own thoughts.

"Dinner is ready, Master Harry." The house-elf said in its squeaky voice and its customary bow. It then disappeared with another crack.

Harry got off his bed where he had been sitting Indian style while he had meditated. He walked out of his room and shut the door. Harry looked up and Lily had just done the same. Their eyes met for a second, but they both quickly diverted them, blushes on each of their faces.

They walked down the stairs into the dining room. It was the most awkward dinner either of them had shared thus far. They kept their eyes diverted, but they couldn't resist the urge to look up, which tended to be at the same exact moment. They would then quickly divert their eyes again. It continued like that till they both excused themselves and walked back up to their rooms.

Harry decided to start sorting his thoughts. He managed to get through the past two days, but when he got to the letter that he had gotten from his parents he couldn't move on. The thought kept breaking his concentration was, _If I'm my own father than that means…I have to do THAT with her. I can't do THAT with my own mum._

Harry couldn't move past that thought. After about two hours of trying he called it an early night and went to sleep. That night Harry had nightmares about Voldemort doing the most horrendous things to Lily. The worst part was that he had to watch as though it was vision, through Voldemort's eyes.

Harry didn't scream that night though. He had to watch the terrible things over and over again till he finally woke up at four in the morning his pajamas soaked in cold sweat.

Harry took a shower, but instead of going down and training he started to sort his thoughts again. This time he managed to sort that thought and he moved on. By the time he got done he could estimate that he could have his thoughts all sorted and the final strengthening of his walls in another week. Then all he had to do was to maintain the walls and sort his recent thoughts to keep his shields strong. Harry trained that day, but the training session ended early in the afternoon, and Harry disappeared for about an hour.

At dinner that night everything went back to normal and they talked some more. They both went into their rooms early that night, and they both worked on their Occlumency. Lily would be done by tomorrow night, she had been doing a watered down version of this for almost two years now after all.

After three hours of the exercises the two of them fell asleep. This time Harry didn't suffer from nightmares, but instead basked in the warmth of nothingness.

Harry woke up that morning and felt truly rested for the first time in months. He got ready for the day and was just finishing up when Larry popped in to tell him breakfast was ready and to deliver James' mail. It was just more letter from Sirius, Remus, and Peter like the rest of them had been. He burned Peter's, but decided to keep Sirius' and Remus' letters to read later.

Harry went down stairs and saw an anxious Lily that was eating as quickly as she possibly could. Harry ate a light breakfast not really being hungry, and waited for Lily to finish.

Once she had he started, "Well today is the big day. I hope you are ready. I'll take you over to Ministry so you can take your test. I can't stay though. I have some stuff that I need to take care of. I'm sure you can apparate back, and if you can't just floo to 'Godric's Hollow.'" Harry said with a smile on his face.

He apparated the two of them to the atrium of the Ministry and pointed her towards the check-in booth. He waved bye and then apparated back to the house. He got busy decorating the house and made sure that his present was ready and that Larry had the cake all set to go.

Once everything was ready Harry sat down in a chair to wait. She shouldn't be too long he didn't think. After about thirty minutes Harry heard door open. Lily called his name and walked down the hall poking her head into each room till she came to the dining room.

"Guess what, Harry? I passed." She squealed when she saw him. Then she noticed the decorations and the cake. "You didn't have to, Harry. This is great." Her face lit up even more, which Harry didn't think was actually possible.

They talked longer than they ever had up to that moment. Harry could tell that Lily was having a good time for the first time since her parents had died. He made him happy to know that he was the one that had caused this.

He had given her an advanced charms book he had taken from the Potter Family vault. She had absolutely loved it and demanded to know where he had gotten such a rare book, but Harry just smiled and refused to answer her.

She surprised him also by informing him that she would be done reinforcing her mental shield that night. Harry promised her that he would tell her what he wanted to know the next day, because he didn't want to spoil the mood.

Harry had also informed her about the section of his mind that he couldn't get into. He told her his theory, but she dismissed. Then she started rambling on about how it might be possible if his unconscious mind was blocking something from himself, but he didn't understand much past that.

For the rest of the day they played games and talked about happier times. They both had a late night, that night. So late that neither of them even bothered to practice their Occlumency exercises, though Lily did take the time to sort her remaining memories, falling asleep when she had finished.

Neither of them had nightmares that night. They only had good dreams.

The next when they awoke though, Harry was unusually gloomy. Lily just attributed this to the fact of what he was going to be telling her.

After breakfast Harry barricaded the two of them in the den and told Larry that they would be eating lunch in their today. Harry started his tale at the beginning of his life, leaving out the names of his parents and relatives of course, and went from there. Harry was into his third year when Larry served their lunch, leaving the Remus', Sirius', and Peter's name out of course. Harry then continued his tail.

Lily was amazed when he told her the tail of how he had been forced to resurrect Voldemort and the battle at the Ministry. He even told her about the prophecy. Then when he came to his sixth year he explained how Professor Dumbledore had taught him about Tom and about the Horcruxes. She had been horrified by the fact that Voldemort had created such a horrible artifact, let alone six (soul in seven parts), though at the moment it was only at four maybe five.

Lily had been even more horrified when she had found out that Snape was the one that had murdered Professor Dumbledore. She went as far as to give him permission to kill 'Snivellus' on the spot, if he liked. She had been really pissed at the man, even though she had defended him all those years from James.

When Harry finished he thought she might cry, but instead she looked up with a defiant look. "I'm going to help you." It was a simply statement. Harry couldn't find a way to argue with that. He had known enough about his mother that there was no way he could change her mind.

"Fine, I'll let you but, there is one condition." Harry told her.

"What?" She asked.

"You must train with me everyday, just as hard if not harder than I do. I, unlike you, have experience fighting Deatheaters and Voldemort. You must be ready for anything. We can't go to Dumbledore about this. It will only be the two of us against him, and if we fail there could be some serious consequences. So do you still want to help?" Harry asked her.

Harry wasn't surprised when she nodded her head vigorously. "I wouldn't have it any other way." She said.

* * *

For the rest of the month before September 1st they trained without rest, especially once Harry had erected his mental shields fully. 

Lily caught up to him really quickly. She learned amazingly fast. She even tutored him in Transfiguration, which James had done very well in. He had been lacking in this area.

Harry had also remembered that he would be expected to join the rest of the Marauders on the nights of the full-moon when they would accompany Remus while he dealt with his "furry little problem."

At first she wanted to know that James and the rest of the Marauders were illegal animagi, but she gave up after a little protest.

It stumped him, but she suggested that he use prefect meetings and head-boy duties as an excuse not to join them. She thought Sirius would probably be able to handle Remus, if he happened to get out of hand.

Harry wasn't sure that it would work, but he could at least use it until he came up with a better excuse.

After that, they trained until they were so tired, that they could barely make it to their bedrooms. They continued like this right up till August 31, which they decided to take off as a break to celebrate the end of the holidays.

* * *

A/N: Well there is the fourth chapter. I hope you liked it. I found a beta so this will get up whenever she finishes with it, hopefully later today (Monday). On another note I have reopened my Yahoo! Group. It is mostly to get notices when a chapter is put up though. Other than that you can go there to discuss the story and from time to time I will answer questions and put up polls that will help me with the story by giving me inspiration or just entertaining me. Well I don't have much else left to say so R&R! 


	5. Chapter 5 School Begins

A/N: Welcome again to the next chapter of Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time. I hope everybody enjoys it. I would just like to remind everyone that I have restarted my old Yahoo! Group for anyone who wants to join. If you are interested, it is the homepage link on my author profile. Well now on to what everyone is here for, I give you Chapter 5.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 5: School Begins

_After that, they trained until they were so tired, that they could barely make it to their bedrooms. They continued like this right up till August 31, which they decided to take off as a break to celebrate the end of the holidays._

Harry and Lily trained hard that month. They had come far in that one month, especially Harry. He wasn't nearly as powerful as Dumbledore, but he was starting to come into his own. His endurance had increased over ten-fold. He had also made many strides in Transfiguration, which he had had some trouble with before.

Lily, while not having first-hand experience, was becoming a formidable fighter. She had the same problem that Hermione had, she thought too much. She was intelligent, but the first thing she had to learn was to trust her instincts. Once she got over that, she was an excellent dueler to practice with.

But, that month had come to an end. They had become even better friends. Harry tried to keep everything strictly platonic, but sometimes he could feel a familiar monster curled in his stomach. It compelled him into long bouts of staring; that he didn't even realize had started. He would shake himself roughly and go back to what he was doing.

Finally August 31st came. They had their own little 'party' that night. Larry had made a nice meal for the two of them, and they stayed up late in the den on the comfortable couch. In fact, they stayed up so late that they fell asleep on the couch.

* * *

Harry woke up the next morning with a warm weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw a mass of red hair splayed over his chest. 

Harry smiled. They had talked till God knows when, and had fallen asleep on the couch. Harry sat idly looking down at the peaceful redhead that was still asleep on him. That was, until he noticed the time on the clock in the corner.

"Shit!" Harry shouted as he jumped up off the couch. Lily fell to the floor because of the sudden jolt.

Lily sat up and rubbed the side of her back. "What was that for? I was in the middle of a particularly good dream." She said grumpily continuing to rub her back.

"No time to talk! It's 10:30!" Harry shouted.

Lily's eyes widen, and she jumped up. They both raced out the door, up the stairs, and into their respective rooms. They didn't have time to pack properly, so Harry just shouted, "**_Pack!_**"

Everything flew into his trunk. The robes and the rest of his cloves, he had gotten some of James', flew into the trunk not even bothering to fold. Harry grabbed a pair of robes and his Head Boy badge before he slammed it shut. He dragged it out to the hall, as he shrugged the pair robes on. He pinned the badge on as Lily pulled her trunk out of her room. She had already put on her robe and badge.

"So, how are we going to get there? We don't have a portkey, and I doubt I could apparate with my luggage there." Lily asked.

Harry thought for a second, "Larry!"

With a crack the tiny elf appeared. "Yes, Master Harry?" It asked with a bow.

"Could you take these trunks to Platform Nine and Three Quarters and wait for us to arrive please?" Harry asked gesturing to his and Lily's trunk.

"Yes, Master Harry. Larry is happy to help out Master and Mistress." The elf grabbed the two trunks and with a crack disappeared.

"Ok, now let's get out of here. It's 10:50! If we dally anymore we will be apparating to Hogsmeade, and that wouldn't be very smart way for the Head Boy and Girl to arrive." Harry said as he started down the stairs.

Lily followed him down the stairs, as they both took them at a run. The front door seemed to burst open as they came down the stairs. They ran down the walk to get outside the wards. They barely heard the door slam shut as they both apparated away.

The two of them reappeared in the almost deserted station. The few remaining parents were giving rushed goodbyes as their children boarded the train.

Larry came up right next them dragging their trunks. "Here is Master and Mistress' trunks. Larry be wanting to get back to his cleaning now."

"Very well, Larry. Lily and I will be fine from here. Thank you very much." Harry told the elf. The elf just disappeared with a crack.

The two of them picked up their trunks and they hurried for the train. Lily went towards the front car.

"Why are you going up there? All the compartments are probably already taken up there." Harry called to her.

"Nope this is the prefect's car. We have to be up here so we can lead the prefect's meeting then we can find our own compartment or just use the Head Boy and Girl one up here." Lily informed him.

Harry shrugged and just followed her into the car just as the train started to move out of the station.

"That was a close one." Harry remarked.

Lily just ignored him as she opened the door to a large compartment.

Harry pulled his trunk in and put against the wall. He would have to find the rest of the Marauders after the meeting. It was a moment that he had been both dreading and looking forward to for the last month.

"So what do we do at this meeting? I've never been to one before." Harry asked sitting down in a particularly comfortable seat.

"We introduce the new prefects, I assume there is a list here somewhere, and explain to them what their duties and such are. We also have to give out the start of term passwords; I assume there is a list of those also." Lily said as she started to look for the messages she assumed would be there. And sure enough on the back of the compartment door there was an envelope on the back of the door.

Lily took the envelope and opened it pulling out its contents.

She read over the letter. "Well this has the list of new prefects, the passwords, and it also says that we also have to assign patrol times this year." Lily pulled a second piece of paper off the back of the first. She handed it to Harry.

It was a blank schedule with four slots for each night.

"It says each set of prefects have to patrol two nights a week. Every night there needs to be one group from each house and then on one night we have to patrol the castle alone, and we also have to help at least one other night a week with the other prefects." Lily told him as she read more of the letter.

"Is that all?" Harry asked handing back the blank schedule.

"It goes on to list the perks, like we get our own private dormitory rooms if we wish. We are also able to visit Hogsmeade whenever we want, as long as we inform our Head of House. That and we are exempt from the curfew. After that it just warns us not to abuse our power or we can and will be removed." Lily gave him a pointed look at this.

"What? I'm not actually James Potter you know. I would like to think, I'm a little bit more responsible than he is." Harry said with a mock hurt look at here.

"From what I remember you tend to get into trouble just as much as he did." Lily said.

"It wasn't my fault. The trouble finds me, not the other way around." Harry countered.

"Ok, I'll give you that one. Just stay out of trouble this year." Lily said shaking her head.

"So, when does this meeting start?" Harry asked changing the topic.

Lily looked at her own watch. "They should start showing up in a few minutes."

Harry and Lily didn't have to wait long as the first prefects started to arrive. The first one to walk in was Remus. Remus just gave him a quizzical look, before he got pushed out of the way and the rest of the prefects started piling into the compartment.

Harry allowed Lily to lead the meeting seeing as she already knew what to do. They had everyone sign up for two patrol spots. Everyone left except for Harry, Lily and Remus.

Remus looked rather pale and ragged at the moment. Harry contributed it to the full moon that had happened two nights ago.

"Is there something I can help you with Moony?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

Remus looked over at Lily that was now listening to the conversation.

Harry followed Remus' look and shook his head. "It's ok, Remus? I've told her about most of our escapades. Plus I thought you two got along pretty well." Harry said amused.

"Well I guess that answers my question then." Remus said chuckling to himself.

"And, what might that question had been?" Harry asked.

"I was wondering, where you had been all summer. Padfoot dragged me and Wormtail all over the country looking for you. We checked Diagon Ally almost every week, and we couldn't find you at Potter Manor or the summer homes we knew of. But, now I guess you spent all summer with this redhead. What changed? Last year you couldn't talk with her without her slapping you." Remus said giving him a curious look as he sniffed the air.

"I realized this summer that I can't keep acting the way I have been. There is a war going on out there, and I need to get ready so I can do my own part to help out. I decided to take care of some things this summer. One of those was apologizing to Lily. When I arrived I found out how horrible her sister is, so I took her to an old family summer home that hasn't been used in awhile." Harry explained. He and Lily had carefully made up this lie the past month when they weren't training.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you in our normal compartment then. If not Padfoot might tear the train apart to look for you. Congratulations by the way. They don't usually pick a Head Boy that wasn't a prefect." With that Remus gave him another weird look.

"What were those looks for?" Lily asked once the door had closed again.

"He is a werewolf. My scent is probably different from James'. James' clothes and stuff might cover most of it up, but I'm sure that I still smell different. Harry conveniently left out the fact that he probably smelled a bit like James since he was somewhere back in time, James would be his actual father, but Lily didn't know about any of that, yet.

"Oh, I forgot about that. You'll just have to be careful around him. I think he might be a little suspicious of you. Well you should get going to your compartment now." Lily said as she started to dig in her trunk.

"Would you like to join me?" Harry said offering his arm to her.

Lily stopped rummaging in her trunk and looked up. "Are you sure? Sirius might mind."

"Don't worry. They will listen to me. I am their illustrious leader after all." Harry said giving her and overly dramatic bow.

Lily laughed. "You just looked and acted exactly like James would have."

"Well I have to be convincing don't I?" Harry said raising an eyebrow.

"Fine let's go." She said taking his arm.

Harry took out his wand with his free right arm and waved it at his and Lily's trunk. They floated up and followed the two of them out of the compartment. They made their way back the training looking through the window on each door looking for the Marauders. They saw Snape through one. He had given Harry the most scathing look, he had ever received, which Harry returned with a look of equal hatred and rage. Harry won that staring contest as Snape flinched away from his gaze.

They finally found the compartment. Sirius was talking with Remus adamantly about something. Then he saw Peter and he shuddered violently.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked feeling the shudder.

"Fine." Harry answered tersely.

Lily looked at him carefully. Harry quickly hid the face of loathing, but Lily caught it as he did. She just shrugged it off and figured it had something to do with future events.

Harry pulled the compartment door open and stepped in with Lily on his arm.

All three of them looked at him at once.

"So it's true. You and Evans are finally together. I never thought I would see the day." Sirius said as a sly grin came over his face.

"It's not like that, and you know it, **Sirius**." Harry said stressing his name.

"Ya, right. We'll talk later. So what have you been up to all summer? We checked Diagon Ally weekly and we couldn't find you." Sirius asked.

"Didn't Tom tell you?" Harry asked.

"Whose Tom, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"He is the bartender at The Leaky Cauldron. I told him to tell you not to worry, and I would see you on the train." Harry told him as he took a seat after he shoved his and Lily's trunks up in the luggage rack.

"Oh, that guy. He was hurt in the attack on Diagon Ally at the beginning of last month. He has been recovering in St. Mungo's all month." Sirius said. "So, what have you been up to besides rescuing your favorite redhead?" Sirius finished.

"Oh, I've been here and there. Training a bit and taking care of business that I needed to. I was busy all summer long." Harry said offhandedly.

"Whatever. Remus told me that you made Head Boy. Is it true?" Sirius said as mischievous glint appeared in his eye.

"Yes, I have." An equal glint appearing in Harry's eyes. "I think we could definitely have some fun with Snivellus this year."

Lily rolled her eyes, but didn't say a word. She didn't really care what happened to Snape now that she knew what he would do in the future.

"So how should we start off the year? I think it is time we start off the train ride with our customary 'humiliate Snivellus for the first time' prank." Sirius asked.

"How about hanging him upside down out the window?" Harry suggested.

"Now, that's the spirit. I like it. Let's do it, unless your **girlfriend** has a problem with that." Sirius stressed 'girlfriend' as Harry blushed deeply.

"No don't mind me. Go have some fun." Lily said offhandedly as she continued to read a book she had taken from the library at Godric's Hollow.

The other three boys' eyes bugged out. "You certainly have changed, Evans. You would have cursed us all for even suggesting that last year." Sirius said in disbelief.

Lily shrugged, "I guess I've had a change of heart."

The three boys just stared at her till Harry had gotten up and opened the door. "Come on guys. I saw Snivellus further up the train when I left the Prefects car." Harry walked out the door and up the train.

They made their way to the car he had seen Snape in before.

They reached the compartment and Harry gave out instructions. "Padfoot and Moony take care of the rest of the snakes; I'll take care of Snivellus."

"What about me?" Peter asked in his sniveling voice that wouldn't change over the years.

"Do you think you could take one of them, Peter?" Harry asked looking at him with pity masked over the anger he felt about the rat's presence.

"No." Peter said shrinking back against the wall.

"Ok. Everyone set then?" Harry said looking at Sirius and Remus.

The two of them nodded at him. They burst into the compartment. Remus and Sirius fired enough curses to separate Snape from the rest of the Slytherins.

Snape sneered at him, "What do you want, Potter?" Snape spit the last out with disgust.

"I just wanted to have a little fun." Harry said with just as much disgust.

Harry smiled as he felt the prodding of a Legilmens. Harry closed off his mind and shoved the intruder out. Snape winced and stumbled back at the rough way he was thrown out his mind.

"It's not polite to snoop in other's minds, Snivellus." Harry spat out. He then added non-verbally, _Levicorpus!_

Snape quickly toppled over and hung suspended in the air. His wand fell out of his pocket as he hung. He tried to grab it, but it slipped through his greasy hands. Harry raised him up so he couldn't get the wand on the ground.

"Put me down, Potter." Snape spat.

By this time Sirius and Remus was able to stun all the other Slytherins and were watching him and Snape carefully.

"And, why would I do that. The fun has just begun. So what should we do now?" Harry asked looking around the compartment. It was the signal for Wormtail to open the compartment window and vanishing the mesh that now covered the open window. The wind howled as it rushed into the compartment.

"Ahh, thank you, Peter." Harry waved his wand and Snape roughly floated out the window. The four boys laughed as Snape fought against the window ripping his robes off and his hair going all over the place. They just laughed some more.

"Ok, I think that is enough. You have had your fun for the ride." A feminine voice said behind the boys.

"Oh come on, Lily. We were just having some fun." Harry whined.

"You had your fun. Bring back in before you hurt him." Lily said with a note of command in her voice.

Harry just roughly floated the frightened Slytherin back in the window not particularly caring if he bumped him against the frame.

As soon as he was back in Lily wave her wand and the mesh reappeared and the window shut.

Harry let Snape drop to the floor. He took some time recovering. The four boys had started laughing at him again. Harry saw him reaching for his fallen wand. "Oh I don't think so Snivellus. Have a good year! _Stupefy!_" Snape slumped back to the ground before they left the compartment.

They made their way back to the compartment howling over what had just happened.

The rest of the trip the five students talked about their summers and laughed over some rather interesting jokes from Sirius, which Lily scowled at.

Harry could tell this was going to be fun year, stressful but fun.

The train started to come to a stop and the three other boys pulled on their robes. They got out and Harry heard the familiar call, " 'firs 'years, this way!"

Harry suppressed the urge to call out since Hagrid and James hadn't been friends like Harry and Hagrid were. They made their way out of the station and towards the carriages.

"What are those?" Lily shrieked pointing to the front of the carriages.

Harry quieted her quickly. "They are thestrals. They have always been there. The thing is you can't see them unless you have witnessed someone die. Keep quiet though. The others might want to know how you can see them." Harry fiercely whispered into her ear as Remus looked over his shoulder giving him a quizzical look.

Lily closed her mouth and quickly looked away. The five teens continued into an empty carriage. They talked some more about what pranks they might do this year when the carriage finally lurched, and they fell silent as the carriage made its way up to the castle.

The carriages stopped and they hopped out of them, and started up the steps.

When they got inside, Harry heard the harsh voice of Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans, The headmaster would like to talk to the two of you after the feast before you make your way to your dormitories. The password is 'Skittles.'" Then she walked away after Peeves that was causing some trouble at the entrance to the Great Hall.

Harry and Lily looked at each other and shrugged.

"You don't think it is about what we did on the train do you?" Remus asked worried.

"I doubt it. Wouldn't she just want to see us four and not just me and Lily?" Harry asked.

Remus shook his head, and they made their way into the Great Hall. The five took their seats at the table as they waited for the feast to begin.

Silence overcame the hall as the new first years walked in looking as scared as they normally did.

Professor Dumbledore stood up. He looked different than Harry remembered. His hair looked a little darker, and his beard was a little shorter than it was in the future. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before we start the sorting I would like to introduce our new staff member this year. It seems that our old caretaker has been gravely injured in the attack on Diagon Ally at the beginning of the past month." Professor Dumbledore as a rush of whispers went over the hall. The hall fell silent again as Dumbledore started again. "So I would like you all to welcome Argus Filch that will be replacing the injured Apollyon Pringle."

There was a small amount of polite applause, but Harry groaned. Lily and Remus gave him an inquisitive look before they looked back up at the Headmaster.

"Well I think that is all I will say for the moment. Let the Sorting begin!" The headmaster clapped and the side doors opened and a younger looking Flitwick walked in carrying the three-legged stool and the sorting hat.

(A/N: I'm sorry, but I'm no good at writing things like the Sorting Hat's song. I will just say here that it is basically the standard song during war times, telling them to unite or they will fall and such. I think you get the picture.)

The students applauded as the Sorting Hat finished its song. Then Professor McGonagall started calling out names and the sorting commenced. The tables all clapped when they got a new student, but they began to get restless as the unusually large first year class finished being sorted.

"Well I believe is time to eat, Tuck In!" Dumbledore said as he stood up once the last first year had been sorted.

Food appeared on the table. Sirius and Harry started fiercely to wolf down the food to fill their growling stomachs. Remus and Lily shook their heads as they politely ate. Once everyone was done eating and desert had passed the food disappeared and silence once again.

Professor Dumbledore stood up again. "Now that our bellies our full, I have a few more announcements before we all fall asleep for the night. First, I would like to inform the first years and remind certain older students," Dumbledore looked directly at Harry and Sirius here, "that the Forbidden Forest is just that forbidden. No student should be found wondering around it. Secondly due to recent events at night there will be patrols all over the schools. Not only will this include Prefects and teachers, but also Aurors on loan from the Ministry will also be present. Any students caught out of bounds after curfew will be punished accordingly. People guilty of multiple infractions will be expelled. These are troubled times, and I hope you all will be sure to follow all rules that we set forward as they are for your own protection. And lastly I believe that all house teams are in need of new Quidditch players. Your heads of house will be posting in the next week a notice in your common rooms about when tryouts will be held and who the new captains are seeing as both the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams are in need of new ones. Well, I believe that is all. Everyone have a wonderful night and enjoy the day before classes start on Monday."

With that the students stood up and made their way out of the hall. The prefects called the first years and the hall slowly emptied.

Harry and Lily were one of the last to leave. They made their way up to the seventh floor towards the Headmaster's office.

They reached the gargoyle and Harry gave the password. The two teens stepped onto the moving staircase.

They reached the door and knocked. Harry felt a gentle prod in his head and smiled. So that was how the old man did it. Harry kept his mind closed and he finally heard the headmaster call. "You may come in now."

Harry opened the door and he walked in with Lily following him. The headmaster motioned for them sit in the chairs in front of his desk. They took the seats and waited for the headmaster to start.

"It is good to see you are still with us, Mr. Potter. I must admit I wasn't certain that you would be returning this year after the death of your parents last year. I would like to enquire where you were this summer however. You had your friends Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin very worried.

"I was around. I had some stuff to take care of the summer. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle." Harry told the headmaster. Harry felt the familiar prodding in his head and he spoke up, "I find it is more polite to ask a question then to peek into their minds." Harry said it with a smile.

The headmaster chuckled. "I see I have been found out. I guess Ms. Evans would have something to do with this. It seems you two spent a good deal of time together this summer." The headmaster peered over his glasses his eyes twinkling like normal.

"I also believe from talking with victims at the attack on Diagon Alley, that you played a major role in stopping the attack." The headmaster eyes bore into Harry.

"Yes, headmaster. I was there. I merely defended myself." Harry said not wanting to reveal too much.

The headmaster looked skeptically at him, but didn't press the issue.

"I'm sure that you are wondering why I have called you here Ms. Evans." The headmaster said after a moment.

Lily shook her head. "It seems the Ministry felt a strange surge of magical activity at your home. They would have sent you a warning, but it was detected coming from a wizard or witch that was of age. They informed me and asked that I would investigate. When I came by your house you weren't there and your sister and her husband seemed terrified when I mentioned you. They said something about a 'black haired freak' attacking them. I also detected a minor memory charm on your sister." The headmaster just looked over his glasses.

"That was me, Professor. I had come to apologize for my behavior to Lily and I decided to help her out with her sister. They weren't very nice to her. The memory charm was just to hide something she overheard that I didn't think was wise to remember. It might put her in danger with all that is going on at the moment." Harry told him trying to get the headmaster's attention off Lily that was squirming a little bit.

It worked and the headmaster looked towards him, "Very well, Mr. Potter. I would like to remind you that it is not wise to terrorize Muggles, no matter how they deserved it. Also the memory charm is illegal when performed by anyone other than a trained Obliviator, not to mention dangerous to the recipient."

"Yes, headmaster. I will remember that in the future." Harry said acting properly ashamed.

"Very well, I believe that will be all for tonight. I will see you in a week when you make your weekly report. Have a good night and please stay out of trouble, Mr. Potter. Head Boy is a prestigious position, and I hope you won't prove me wrong in appointing you. Now to your dormitories, you will need your rest." Dumbledore said as he waved his hand dismissing them.

Harry and Lily quickly left.

"That was close. You think quickly on your feet, H…James." Lily still was getting use to calling him James.

"It is something required when fighting. Why don't we hurry up? I don't really want to run into Filch. He isn't exactly the most pleasant of people to be around." Harry said rushing the two of them towards Gryffindor tower.

"I take it he was around in your day." Lily said looking at him. She had been curious about all the things in the future especially after he told her about Dumbledore's murder.

"Yes, he was absolutely horrible, and he has this horrible cat that helps him. He didn't like me much though. I think he thought I was too much like my father. But, I can't exactly blame him. My father was a trouble maker." Harry told her.

"So your father is in school now is he?" Lily said curious. He had never told her much about his parents.

Harry cursed. "Yes, you could say that." He had said too much.

The rest of the trip went by in silence and they eventually reached the common room. Remus and Sirius were still up and asked them what the headmaster had wanted. They had been surprised to learn that 'James' had been the one to help thwart the attack on Diagon Alley, but Sirius was delighted when he heard how 'James' terrorized Lily's relatives.

Harry and Lily decided they would spend the night in their special dormitories, just to get a feel for them.

* * *

A/N: So what do you think of the fifth chapter. I hope you enjoyed. Lupin is suspicious of Harry because of the scent problem. Harry though will smell a bit like James along with a mixture of Lily. Harry might even have to reveal to him his true identity, but I haven't decided whether to that or not. I guess you will just have to wait and see. Well I invite everyone to join my Yahoo! Group. Well that is all I have to say. R&R 


	6. Chapter 6 First Week of Classes

A/N: Well I must be truly bored. I'm starting this chapter while I'm watching the Man's Show on G4. I wasn't even going to start on this chapter till I worked Sunday night. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 6: First Week of Classes

The Head Boy and Girl dormitories were located behind a portrait in the common room. The portrait opened up to a small hallway that had a door on either side of it. The one on the left was marked in ornate letters "HB" and the right in "HG." Both dormitories were identical except that a boy was thrown out of the Head Girl room if he tried to cross the threshold. Harry had found this out rather painfully when he had went in to check out the room with Lily.

The rooms were identical from what Harry could tell. They both had rich red carpet. And the rooms were done in decidedly Gryffindor colors. They both had king size versions of the four poster beds in regular dormitories. They had a private desk and book shelves to keep their stuff. Their was also a mirror at the desk that according to the note they each got was a two way mirror that they shared with each other (since the Head Boy and Girl aren't always in the same house) and the headmaster.

They each had their own private bathroom too. The bathrooms were done up in a similar fashion as the prefect's bathroom. A huge tube, not large enough to swim in though, and fancy sinks, not to mention everything was done up in dark red marble, with most of the metal gold colored.

Harry was too tired though to take in the true magnificence though. After looking through the entire suite he fell on the bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

* * *

Harry awoke the next morning to a large amount of water being dumped on him. His entire bed was soaked. He looked over to the source and grumbled when he saw Lily putting her wand back inside the cloak she had on.

"What was that for?" Harry asked grumpily as he sat up.

"I was trying to get you up. I figured we could use the time before classes start Monday for training. You are the one after all that needs it." Lily said rolling her eyes.

Harry stared at her waiting for her to leave. Lily grew agitated waiting and snapped at him, "What are you waiting for? Get up and get ready already. It's eight in the morning."

"I would, but could you please get out of my room so I could change." Harry told her flatly and continued to stare at her.

Harry smiled at the blush that came over her face.

Lily mumbled, "Sorry, I'll leave." As she backed out the door and shut it.

Harry laughed and got up. He grabbed a set of workout clothes and headed into his private bathroom.

Once he was showered and dressed be came out of his room and found Lily waiting.

"About time. Let's go. I know the perfect place to train." Lily said as she grabbed his hand and pulled them out of the hall to their private quarters.

Harry was glad the rest of Gryffindor house wasn't in the common room that morning, or he would have been very embarrassed about a particular redhead that had his hand firmly held in hers and was dragging him out of the room.

Lily proceeded to drag Harry along the Seventh floor till they got to a blank stretch of wall. Lily let go of his hand and started to pace the hall. Harry looked around and noticed the familiar hall where the Room of Requirement was located. Harry smiled as Lily made the finally walk and the door materialized in front of him.

Lily went to the door and yanked it open. Harry stopped her before she could explain what the room was.

"The Room of Requirement. I'm surprised I didn't think of it. It will be perfect." Harry told her as she looked at him with amazement.

"You found this room before?" Lily asked him.

"Ya I had a friend among the house elves in my time. I had asked him for a room where it would be hard to find for the DA I had told you about. This was the only room that House Elves couldn't always get into. They can't pop into it when someone else is using it. Whenever they can pop in however it is usually just full of cleaning supplies and such. It is a really cool room. You can use it for practically anything." Harry told her.

Harry didn't wait for her reply and walked into the room. It was rather simple. It had a raised platform to duel on and there were target dummies all over the walls. Harry could also feel the floor soften a little when his foot hit it before it become hard as stone again. _A cushioning charm._ Harry thought.

Harry nodded his head at Lily, who had entered the room shutting the door as he had a look around.

They spent the majority of the time before classes started that first weekend back training. Most of that training was making sure that Harry would be able to maintain James' reputation in Transfiguration.

Harry and Lily had to patrol Saturday night also.

* * *

Sunday night as Harry had come back in the common room tired from training he felt a strong pair of arms grab him and pull him into a niche. Harry groaned. He was tired from the particularly hard Lily had put him through on Transfiguration.

Harry was shoved down into a plushy chair and he lucked up. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all looking at him.

"Where have you been this weekend? We could have had a bunch of fun and you go off and disappear everyday." Sirius was the first to act.

Before Harry could say anything though Remus butted in, "He has been with Lily. I can smell it. It is rather strong too."

Sirius looked at him really closely and noticed how tired he was and saw the sweat on his forehead. "You sly bastard, why didn't you just say you and Evans were doing that. We would have understood."

Harry's head snapped up and gave Sirius a dumbstruck look. "I…I haven't been doing such a thing."

"Then what have you been doing with Evans then that has the both of you sweating so much?" Sirius said raising his eyebrow suggestively. Peter looked on trying to suppress the snicker that was trying desperately to escape. Remus just looked on like he was trying to concentrate, but stayed silent.

Harry decided that the truth would probably be the best answer at the moment. "We have been training. There is a war going on outside, even inside this school to an extent. I want to be ready. Once we leave Hogwarts this year, we won't be able to rely on the protection of the wards and Dumbledore."

Sirius and Peter turned serious and looked at him.

After a moment, Sirius spoke up, "We know that, Prongs, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun while we are still here. After all once we are out pranking people won't be as easy."

"Whatever. I just want to be ready for whatever might happen. I realized when my parents were murdered that I can't rest until Voldemort is gone. This world will never be safe for anyone till he is." Harry said relapsing for a moment into his memories of his own time.

"Prongs it isn't your job to kill him. Just leave it to the Ministry and Dumbledore. They will get him eventually. If this is about revenge don't bother. Your dad was one of the best Aurors the Ministry had. I don't think you will have a chance against him on your own. Revenge would just be suicide. Your parents wouldn't want that." Remus told him now looking concerned.

"I have to…" Harry cut himself off as he realized what he was about to say. Harry shook himself. "Whatever. Let's change the subject. Did you all want something other then to butt into my personal life or can I go get some rest?"

The three boys looked at him uncertainly, but shrugged off the abrupt change of topic.

"The start of term prank, Prongs. I swear you are becoming more forgetful then Wormtail." Sirius said jokingly.

Peter puffed up and said indignantly, "Hey! I'm not forgetful. Things just to ahh… Ok fine I am forgetful!" Peter deflated as he said the last of his comment.

"Ya…Ya, Peter. So what are we going to do? I was thinking we could get the teachers at breakfast." Sirius said.

They discussed what they were going to do and finished their hasty preparations before the four slipped into their dorm (Harry is staying in the seventh year dormitory tonight).

* * *

The next morning when Harry walked into the Great Hall, he could practically fell all the anxious eyes that were glued to him. Harry quickly walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down between Lily and Remus.

"Why is everyone looking at me?" Harry asked Lily as he reached for the eggs.

"They are expecting your prank. It has become almost like a custom for the Marauders' first prank to be at the breakfast of the first day of classes." She answered in a low voice not to draw the attention of the other Marauders.

"Ohh, that. Yes we have one planned. Matter of fact I think it should be starting right about now." Harry replied.

Harry right as he had been answering her saw Sirius' hand move under the table.

Harry followed the path to their target and saw a mall shimmer in the air dash towards it. There were now shrieks coming from the Slytherin table.

The whole hall started to laugh as the Slytherins started to stand up and they could see what had happened to them. Every single one of them now had long black hair that was done up in dreadlocks, and they all had long mustaches that were braided up on the ends and fell down past their chin on either side.

Harry heard someone shout "_Finite Incanteum!_" and laughed as their hair got even longer and started to obstruct their face. The curse they had used could only be waited out, any attempt to undo it would just make it worse, and it wouldn't run out for at least ten hours.

Once the Slytherins had figured out they wouldn't be able to undo it they stormed out of the hall. Not all of them left quietly though.

Snape as he stormed out gave Harry a hateful glare and shouted, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS POTTER!" He then ran through the Great Hall's doors towards the dungeons.

The hall slowly settled down and finished eating before everyone filed out to head to their first class.

* * *

Classes weren't really much different. As Harry had expected teachers started to pile on the homework immediately in preparation for their NEWTs.

Harry did get some praise from McGonagall though. She had told him he had improved even more this summer than usual. Harry just smiled and gave Lily a look that clearly said, "Why were you so tough?"

Lily just looked sheepishly back at him.

Defense Against the Dark Arts turned out to be fun. The teacher was young and had only been teaching since the year before. He had graduated from the Auror Academy early and had decided that he would rather teach then do missions, Harry thought it was to avoid death more then anything but never voiced that.

The teacher walked in on the first day and said, "So who wants to go first?"

Harry looked questioningly at Lily. She hadn't said much that summer about this teacher's method of teaching. She had just told him that he was a good teacher.

She whispered to him, "Professor Hennessey likes to take a hands on approach. He tests us once a month to see how we fair in different situations. He is a really good teacher though. He is very fair too."

Harry just gave her a weird look and looked back up at the professor.

"No one? I guess I will just have to draft someone then. Let's see. Mr. Potter, you should do nicely. Please come up here and we will duel. I wish to see if you have improved any this year." The professor said when no one raised their hand.

Harry stood up and walked towards the dueling platform that was at the front of the room.

The Professor gestured for him to come up on the platform. "We will be following all procedures associated with a proper wizard's duel. We however will not be out to kill. I warn you though. A Deatheater is not afraid to play dirty. You will need to watch yourself a lot more carefully when out in the real world. Deatheaters have been known to out number their target by as much as ten to one. They also will use any curse they can think of. Some of them know some of the darkest spells ever to be invented."

The class was silent. Professor Hennessey clapped his hands. "Very well! Mr. Potter let us both begin."

The professor bowed to Harry as he returned the jester.

Once they came out their bow the professor wasted no time and sending a blinding red beam at Harry. He knew a regular shield wouldn't be able to take that stunner, so he threw up the only shield he could think of, "_Incurxitialus!_"

The blinding red beam hit Harry in the chest and disappeared. The professor looked stunned that the shield had absorbed the spell. He was also sweating a little. The stunner had taken a lot of energy to cast.

The professor didn't have long to stare dumbstruck as his own curse fired back at him.

The teacher dodged the stunner and fired a blasting hex at Harry. It hit Harry's shield that was still active, but the blow had left him sweating as the shield drew more energy from him to block the curse.

Harry released the shield and started moving. Standing still was only a way to get you hurt.

Harry dodged a few more curses that had come from the teacher. His seeker reflexes were useful for more than just the Quidditch pitch.

Harry final got an opportunity to send off another major spell, "_Potentio Mutiplo Stupefy!_" The thirty beams flew out of Harry's wand and went for the Professor from all angles.

The teacher knew he couldn't dodge them all and threw up a strong shield, "_Protego Maximus!_"

A translucent blue dome like the normal 'Protego' spell formed around the teacher except that it crackled with small forks of blue lightening all over the surface. All thirty stunners hit the shield simultaneously. The shield started to flicker as the stunners struggled against the shield. Now there were red, blue, and purple sparks flying in the air.

All but one stunner dissipated before the professor's shield collapsed. The teacher was barely able to stand, but somehow dodged the remaining stunner.

Harry didn't hear the gasp from his audience. His adrenaline was pumping so hard the only thing he could concentrate was on the duel.

The two duelers continued to duel. Harry started to get a little tired and a little frustrated. The teacher was now trying to counter everything Harry threw at him. He succeeded in most cases, but the Professor still had to dodge a few spells.

Finally Harry had enough and he fired off a more powerful spell then they had been using, "_JABITHA!_"

A huge lightening bold of green fire came out Harry's wand and shot towards the professor.

The professor's eyes bugged out. "_AUREUS!_" A solid golden dome appeared around him and the bolt of fire bounced off the shield and struck the ceiling. The ceiling caught fire as the entire room heated up by about thirty degrees. The ceiling however stopped burning abruptly and just glowed red as the heat resided. The golden dome however had faded and the Professor was fainted on the ground. His wand rolled off the edge of the platform.

Harry decided that the duel was over and summoned the wand just to show that he had won. He then walked over and revived the fainted professor. The professor immediately started to grab around his side looking for his wand.

"Here you go, Professor. You fainted and it rolled off the edge." Harry said as he hand back the man's wand.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. Just give me a moment. I'm just a bit tired." The professor caught his breath before he stood back up as Harry went back to his seat.

"That was remarkable job, Mr. Potter. I daresay I think you were holding back a little judging from that last spell. It was a bit much though. I was starting to tire. You would have won eventually. I believe you will do well in your ambition to be an Auror." Professor Hennessey said once he stood back up.

Harry blushed and the rest of the class looked at him in awe.

"Well that took longer than I thought it would. It was also very tiring. I think we hold off on testing your skills until our next class. For now I would just like you to review the traditions of dueling and brush up on your skills. You will all be tested in the next class. I think we will dismiss early now. I need a little time to recover for my next class." The teacher said as he collapsed into the chair behind his desk.

The seventh years quickly gathered their things and left before he could change his mind.

Once Harry walked out the door, he felt a hand slap him on the back. "Well done, Prongs! Beat the teacher and got us out of class forty minutes early!" Sirius praised.

Lily looked on approvingly as did Remus.

"I guess all that training you two have been doing has paid off. I wonder what Evans is like now. Could probably kick my ass easily now." Sirius said in jokingly and started to laugh.

Lily responded, "I probably could and don't you forget it, either!"

This caused Remus, Peter and Harry to laugh even harder. Sirius however looked horrified by the prospect of getting beat by the girl.

* * *

The word of Harry's duel in DADA spread quickly through the school. At dinner he kept getting congratulated by his fellow Gryffindors and some Ravenclaws. He also saw a prideful smile on Professor McGonagall's and Professor Dumbledore's faces, which were directed at him.

The rest of the week went by in a blur. Everything was turning out better than Harry's past few years at Hogwarts.

Finally it was Saturday and Harry and Lily had to do their patrol of the school.

This time Harry had brought the Marauder's map with them to help.

"Hey, H…James look at this. Snape is wandering around on the second floor." Lily said as she looked over the map while Harry was playing around with his wand idly.

Harry ears perked up at that. "Let's go see what he is up to." He immediately said. The two of them made their way through the castle towards where Snape was at.

When they got there, they didn't see anything. Harry assumed he was under an invisibility cloak and started to summon it when a red beam appeared in the air and hit Lily. Lily fell unconscious on the floor. Harry however snapped and for a few seconds he felt his conscious mind forced out of his body and his body drew and 'X' in the air.

A light orange cloud of energy flew out of where his body drew the 'X' and slammed into Snape. Snape went flying and hit the wall hard as Harry regained control of his body. The spell ripped the cloak Snape had been wearing to shreds.

Harry mentally added the unknown spell to a list of things to learn as he bent down and revived Lily.

"What happened?" Lily asked confused.

"I lost control again. I used some spell that sent Snape flying and knocked him unconscious. We should take him to the Headmaster. We need to report in for the week and maybe we can get the git expelled if we are lucky. Attacking the Head Boy and Girl is a serious offense." Harry told her offering his hand.

Lily nodded as she took the offered arm and he pulled her up.

Lily grabbed Snape's wand and revived him.

"We will be going to the Headmaster's office. You will come with us. We will keep your wand till we reach his office. I would also advise you not to speak a word or I might hex your mouth off." Lily told the boy harshly, her wand trained on him the entire time.

The boy glared at the two of them but didn't say a word.

Harry and Lily marched him up to the Headmaster's office with their wands trained on him.

They got to the gargoyle and gave the password. The three of them moved onto the staircase and rode to the top. They didn't get a chance to knock as the Headmaster called out, "That must be you Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. Please come in."

Harry and Lily entered the office.

"What is this? Why do you have Mr. Snape at wand point?" Professor Dumbledore demanded when he saw them enter.

"We were patrolling the halls when Snape attacked us. He managed to stun Lily and I managed to take him down before he could do anything else. Lily has his wand. He was wearing this." Harry told the headmaster as he held out the shattered invisibility cloak.

"Do you have any other proof? I'm afraid a shredded invisibility cloak is enough evidence to warrant punishment." Dumbledore said staring calmly over his spectacles at the three young adults.

"Check his wand professor." Harry said.

"I'm afraid a stunning spell is common in use in a school such as Hogwarts. That will not be sufficient proof." Dumbledore told him.

Harry gawked. "You can't do anything! He attacked us for peak sake. You could always use Le…"

Dumbledore cut him off, "I'm afraid, Mr. Potter that the animosity between the two of you is rather well known. And as to your other suggestion, Mr. Snape is as adapt as your self or Ms. Evans at Occlumency. So unless either of you three is willing to drop your shield, I am afraid there is nothing I can do."

Harry shook his head refusing to let down his shield and he saw the other two do the same thing. There was just too much at risk to lower his shield even for Dumbledore. He saw the other two do the same.

"Then there is nothing I can do. However, Mr. Snape, you were out after hours and that does deserve a punishment. I will take thirty points from Slytherin house and you will serve two weeks of detention with Professor Slughorn, and I warn you, if you are ever caught out of bounds again you **will** be expelled." Dumbledore said reprimanding tone.

Snape bowed his head acting ashamed and quickly left the office.

Lily and Harry quickly gave their weekly report and left back for Gryffindor tower.

They both retired to their private rooms. Harry nearly passed out as he felt the usual exhaustion from his out of body experiences wash over him. He quickly changed into his sleeping clothes and passed out on the bed.

* * *

A/N: Well what do you think? I liked it, but I am the author after all. Well I'm sorry that I didn't have this out last week. I just got distracted by World of Warcraft and other stuff. I am going to try and get at least one chapter out a week. Don't hold me to that because I can be easily sidetracked. It should be doable as long as I get them done while at work. To the one reviewer that said something about Harry's power: I realize Harry is going to be needed to be powerful to beat Voldemort. I believe power is comprised of three parts, Skill, Natural Talent, and Will. Voldemort has an abundance of all three. Harry has all three in large quantities also, but he is severely lacking when it comes to skill compared to Voldemort. Skill is comprised of both knowledge and the ability to channel the energy. As you channel larger quantities of energy they become more adapt at channeling that larger amount of energy. If the witch or wizard channels too much in one time they become tired. It is the reason Harry is getting tired when he has the out of body experiences. You won't find out exactly why he is till maybe the next chapter or the one after that. Well look forward to the next chapter next Monday or so. 


	7. Chapter 7 Research and Avoiding Friends

A/N: Well, well, well it is that time of the week again! I am at work here this Sunday night (more like Monday morning now), so that means it is time to start the next chapter. I hope that you like it. There is going to be a lot of library and the full moon in this chapter.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 7: Research and Avoiding Friends

The next week was uneventful in the castle. There were no stray students out wandering the halls at night, and the teachers had let up after testing how their abilities dwindled or in some cases skyrocketed during the summer. Harry struggled to meet expectations in Transfiguration, but with the help of Lily and his abnormally proficient skill of keeping his problems to himself he was able to squeak by without raising too many eyebrows with his struggling.

However Harry got dragged into the library almost daily by his rather pushy red headed friend.

"What do I have to go for? The essay isn't due till next week and I don't have anything else for homework. Can't I go hang out with Sirius instead?" Harry whined as Lily Evans was dragging Harry down the moving staircases with a death grip on his wrist.

Lily stopped and whirled around her bright crimson hair flowing through the air. "You coming with me to the library because this is your problem and you **will** help me figure it out. Plus, this is part of your responsibility because of the you-know-what!" Lily started to tap her foot as she waited for Harry to respond. "Well? Are you going to come or not?" She finally asked loosing her patience.

"Fine, fine. I'll come." Harry said dejectedly as he allowed her to drag him the rest of the way to the library.

"So, professor, where do we start?" Harry asked sarcastically.

Lily gave Harry a glare and replied coolly, "You go over to the defensive techniques section and find whatever you can on Occlumency. I will go to the Restricted Section and see if I can find anything useful there."

"And how are you going to get into the Restricted Section?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

"For your information as the Head Boy and Head Girl we have unrestricted access to the Restricted Section. NOW go get every book on Occlumency, Legilimency and any books about mental blocks you can find in the Defensive Techniques section. I will meet you in twenty minutes in the Restricted Section study area." With that Lily stormed off towards the Restricted Section.

Sighed and shook his head as he headed over to his favorite section of the library that is if he had a favorite section.

Harry was able to find only one book on anything to do with the defense, attack or structure of the mind. It just so happened that it was the book that Lily had used to teach him Occlumency that summer.

Feeling ashamed he couldn't do better he headed into the Restricted Section, Madam Pince giving him a pointed look as he did. He quickly found the two tables and their set of chairs that had to be used by students in the Restricted Section; the books there couldn't be taken out after all.

Harry waited the remaining ten minutes before Lily finally showed up with an armful of books. She set them down on the table, and frowned at him. "Is that all you could find?"

"Ya. It seems that this all the normal student population can read. Then again Legilimency is considered illegal, so it doesn't really surprise me." Harry answered her.

"I guess you are right. Well I have another stack of books. I'll be right back." Lily turned on the spot and dashed back into the stack of books as Harry gawked at her retreating back.

Lily soon returned with three more stacks of books in her arms. Harry saw she was clearly struggling. He quickly stood up and grabbed half of the books from her. Lily gave him a look of thanks as they sat down with the books at their table.

"So where should we start?" Harry asked her.

"You start by looking back over this book." She said picking up the old Occlumency book they had been using. "I will start by looking over a few of the ones I found."

Harry picked up their old book and opened it to the index. He searched for mental blocks, but could only find a bit about how to discern whether a block was magical in nature or whether it had been caused by natural cases such as trauma or amnesia. It helped that Harry was able to figure out that the block was being fed by a magical source, not to mention that the block was being fed by his own magic.

When he informed Lily her eyes lit up. "That should certainlay narrow it down a bit. Let's see. You can start looking through these and I will take these two." She pushed a stack of four books over to Harry.

For the next three hours Harry and Lily proceeded to pour over the books they had found. So far they hadn't had any luck. They were interrupted when Harry's stomach gave out a might growl.

Harry blushed, as Lily looked at her watch. "Oh my, it is six already. We should go to dinner. We can pick this back up another day. Lily quickly stowed the books they had been using in the save bin so they could resume their research another time.

The rest of their week went on in the same manner. Soon Saturday came and their second week had passed them by.

In third week on top of the research that Lily was forcing him to do, his teachers had decided that one week was enough rest and were starting to pile the homework back on. He also had to "help" plan their outing while Remus dealt with his "furry little problem."

Harry however informed them that Harry would have to cover Remus' patrol time, since Remus couldn't do it himself. Sirius had looked horrified, but after convincing he accepted the fact that Prongs wouldn't be joining them for the first time in almost two years. Peter was indifferent, but Harry could care less how that rat felt.

However Harry saw the depressed face on Remus' face, but it was quickly cover by understanding once he realized Harry was watching him.

Harry stayed for the rest of the planning and even gave a few suggestions where he saw fit.

Then on Saturday as they sat in the Restricted Section when they were suppose to be patrolling, they just used the Marauder's Map to monitor the school, they had their first break through in identifying his mental block.

"Here, I think I finally found something." Lily exclaimed as she jumped up and dashed over to Harry's side of the table. She placed the book on top of the one Harry had been reading.

She pointed to a passage in an old beat down book. "It says here that there is a ritual that was used by old Pureblood families that instills selected memories into a child and locks them till the child is old enough to understand them. It doesn't say much more than that. It is called the Familal Memnai. This sounds like it could be what is in your mind."

"What about the experiences where I lose control of my body and it starts using spells that I have never heard of before?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but there is bound to be more to it. This book just lists a number of different mental blocks. We will have to look up the rest of the ritual to learn all the side effects of it." Lily argued back.

"Fine so let's look for it then. Which books should I look through?" Harry asked.

"Just a second, I saw a book when I was getting these that listed old rituals that had come out of use or had been banned. I'll go get it and we can check there. It is bound to be in there since the ritual isn't used anymore." Lily said as she rushed into the stacks.

Harry patiently waited. As he did he casually looked down at his watch. "Damn, it's that late already." Harry jumped up and chased after Lily.

"Lily, Lily!" He said louder than normal.

"What?" He heard a voice hiss to his right.

He turned quickly and saw Lily glaring at him.

"It is two o'clock already. We need to get back to the dorms. We aren't even supposed to be out this late." He told her.

"But what about the ritual?" She asked.

"It has been around for at least sixteen years, I am sure that it can wait another week or so." He told her quietly.

Lily's face fell when she realized that he was right. She didn't like having her research interrupted right before finding the final answer, but she really shouldn't be out that late.

* * *

It turned out that they didn't get a chance to research the ritual till the next Saturday.

In the mean time however they had to deal with all the work the teachers continued to pile on. They had an essay due every day in every class not to mention all the practical exercises they had to do. Harry was lucky though. He had no problems in Defense Against the Dark Arts and in all his other classes he had Lily there helping him along. The two of them had formed a close friendship.

After all he had saved her from James, and whisked her away from the Dursleys and for two months they had spent working one on one with each other. They talked a lot. Harry confessed on more than one occasion that he thought that he was going to do more harm in the past then good and that he had no chance against Voldemort.

Lily just brush these fears aside and reassured him that everything would be fine in the end.

And, vice versa, Lily confided in Harry about how others would tease her for being a nerd. There were times when her tough exterior would crack a bit and she would have a minor emotional break down. She quickly sobered though and went back to the way things normally were. Harry reassured her that she would be fine and was in general a good friend.

But, as Harry and Lily grew closer, Harry started to withdraw from the Marauders. He didn't mean too, but he had found it easier to spend time with Lily where he didn't have to pretend like he did around the others. This seemed to affect Remus the most. For the large part of his life before Hogwarts he hadn't had any friend due to his condition. When he entered Hogwarts, he had finally found his first true friends.

But, now it seemed that he had been mistaken. His one best friend was slowly withdrawing into himself. He saw Lily trying to rip away one of his best friends and tore at his heart. He had found a friend in her also. She was caring and intelligent, even though she could be a little red-headed at times, but now it seemed that she and James were starting to forget about their other friends as they spent more and more time with another.

But, his suspicions of "James" were still present. From the first day he had met James that year he noticed small things different about him. For one his scent seemed to be weaker and mixed in with a scent almost indiscernible from Lily's. This usually didn't happen even if the two had been active with each other; it should have worn off after a good shower if they had been. This however was persistent. And, he could also see him struggle in Transfiguration where he had never struggled before.

Then there was the wand. James had told them that it was an old family artifact that he was using, but it seemed to be newer than he let on. There were also his eyes. Every now and then they would flicker to the most amazing emerald green, but they would disappear as soon as you noticed them and you couldn't quite remember what they looked like.

Remus didn't say anything to his other friends though. He didn't want to worry them about something so small, yet. James had always been a strange person for his station, Sirius was too. He had always been so informal and didn't care about the stupid prejudices that most of the Wizarding world held. Remus just passed it all off as a side effect of spending so much time with Lily.

Sirius also had noticed "James"' stranger behavior, but he attributed it to being love sick. He had after all seen many a love sick girl in his day. They would do almost anything to garner his attention.

Peter on the other hand didn't care. James had just become more powerful over the summer. He didn't care how his personality had changed. He had what he wanted, powerful allies. They would protect him from harm. So he just adapted and didn't think twice about how his "best" friend had changed.

* * *

The full moon happened on the Friday of their fourth week back.

Harry felt bad as Remus left shortly after dinner. He felt bad because he wouldn't be able to join him tonight like James had done the past two years. Harry could see the sadness in his eyes as he said good bye to the three of them.

Sirius winked at him and continued to be his mischievous self.

After dinner Harry and Lily decided to start their patrol early. They decided to do it the old fashioned way this time because there would be another set of prefects also patrolling that would expect to run across them sometime. Plus this way they could honestly plead innocence if anyone questioned them about the Marauder's escapades that night.

They didn't notice anything that night. Harry thought he might have heard a few squeaks and the sound of padding on the floor, but the old castle was full of rats and other pets that could make that noise.

Finally the night was done and Harry retired to his private dormitory for a night of rest.

* * *

As that week came to a close Harry found himself once again in the library with his new favorite redheaded friend.

They had just entered the Restricted Section, and Harry was waiting on Lily to return with the book on rituals.

She finally came out with a small book after about ten minutes of searching. "Here it is. Just give me a moment; I'll see if the ritual is in here."

Lily sat down and opened the book. She started to flip a few pages and scanned it. She then started turn pages till she came to the one she was looking for. Then she frowned.

Harry noticed the frown. "What is it? Isn't the ritual in there?" Harry asked.

"It is in here but it doesn't say anything else that the other books said. It does however say that more information can be found in a book call _Ancient Pureblood Rituals_." She replied looking up.

"Well let's get that book then. There is a card catalogue isn't there? Let's go look for it there." Harry said.

"I was going to. I just thought it would be in here." Lily said laying the book down on the table.

Harry and Lily got up and made their way out of the Restricted Section to the card catalogue. They looked through it and found the card for the book. Lily picked out the card and read it carefully and frowned again.

"What is it this time?" Harry asked.

"It says that the only copy the library had was lost thirty years ago when a student failed to return it." Lily told him.

Harry frowned also. "Does it give a description of it by any chance, maybe it was in my family vault. My family was a pretty old family. I might have taken it out when I was picking out books that might have information on Horcruxes. It does sound like a book that might have information on them, or at least how to create or destroy them."

"Ya it does. It says that it is a red leather bound book that has black and gold writing on the cover. The front cover has 'Vera Sanguis Eternus' etched into it in gold letters." Lily said reading the description off the card.

"That sounds familiar. You stay here and monitor the map. I am going to go check my books in my dormitory if I have it. Harry dashed out of the library and ran all the way back to Gryffindor Tower. He quickly entered the common room and ran to his dormitory. He entered quietly as to not disturb his roommates and opened his trunk.

With the soft glow of his wand he quickly searched through all the books from his family vault. One of the last books he had left, he finally found the book. He took it out and sealed his trunk again.

Harry quickly made his way back to library.

He entered the library forty minutes after he left (it one hell of a big castle).

"I found it." Harry exclaimed as Lily looked up at him expectantly when he burst into the Restricted Section.

Lily took the book and quickly looked up the ritual. When she got to the proper page, she laid it out so they both could read. It said this:

_Familal Memnai - Pureblood Memory Ritual_

_This ritual instills memories that the two casters of the ritual decide into the mind of a recipient._

_The two casters must be the biological birthparents of the recipient. It creates and area of the mind that is blocked by the recipients own magic. They are not able to access it consciously however. The knowledge stored within is blocked until the casters take it off of the recipient or in rare cases the recipient loses all control of their body and their subconscious takes over. This however is exhausting as the recipient has to overcome his own magic to pass through the block. An average wizard would be so exhausted that they would likely pass out, but there are few powerful ones that are actually able to maintain the link to the blocked section that the information can be used to save their life. After the dire threat is over the link is severed and the consciousness recovers control of the body. They conscious can only remember what it saw as it observed from a third person view._

_This ritual was considered unethical when the first large number of Muggleborns were introduced into the Magical World because it gave an "unfair" advantage to purebloods that muggleborns never had a chance to try and emulate. The ritual was made illegal in 1815 even though many of the older families did protest the decision. It is rumored that some of the families have continued to use it to pass down knowledge. However they cannot unlock the knowledge till after the child has left school because there are obvious ways to spot a recipient of the ritual after it is unlocked._

_Note that unlike some spells, when the casters of this ritual die neither the knowledge or the block fades. This is a permanent ritual. If either of the casters die however it becomes impossible to unlock the block, because it takes both casters to unlock the block._

_An interesting side affect found was that if a blocked individual performed this ritual on their own child all knowledge stored in their own blocked area would be removed from their mind and transferred into the child._

It then went on to describe how to perform the first part of the ritual that would lock the memories in the recipient and then the second part about how to unlock the memories.

Harry was the first to speak. "That is definitely it. Those out of body experience have only been when I have been in a life or death situation or I had become extremely agitated. They would definitely be considered dire situations."

Lily shook her head. "We could even undo the ritual too. You did say both of your parents went to Hogwarts around this time. Maybe we could find them have them undo the ritual for you. You would have to explain to them about the whole time travel thing, but I'm sure they would understand if you tell them why you want the block down and all. We could probably use the extra help with the Horcruxes all too. You also wouldn't have to be so careful about using your family vault either."

Lily stopped going on how much Harry's parents could help them when she saw him shake his head. "Why not? They could be a lot of help."

"I don't want to tell them yet. I want to get to know them better. Plus, who is to say they will believe me. They will just think I stole from their vault and bar me from it or something." Harry started to mumble other excuses under his breath that Lily couldn't understand.

"Fine. We won't tell them till you are ready, but you realize that this could hold the key to beating Voldemort don't you?" Lily said now concerned that her usually stoic friend had turned into a blubbering mess.

Harry feebly shook his head.

Lily decided that they should call it an early night and put up all of the library books and helped Harry back to the tower.

* * *

A/N: So there it is. A little shorter than normal, but this is the seventh chapter. The next chapter will be Halloween. And, to celebrate the occasion the Marauders will be going all out. Also the story starts to heat up as you are likely to see some action in the next chapter. Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Look for the next one sometime next week. Don't forget that I have a Yahoo! Group for discussion of my story, Harry Potter, and Harry Potter fan fiction in general. R&R! 


	8. Chapter 8 Halloween and the First Attack

A/N: Well here it is. I'm sorry it wasn't out on Monday, but my beta was having some problems in real life, so I completely understand the delay. I would just like to say that if you all could keep here in mind as she gets through her real life troubles. This is Halloween plus there is some action where Lily and Harry kick some major ass! The other Marauders joint of course, they just don't do as well. I hope you like the chapter. I'll talk some more at the end.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 8: Halloween and the First Attack

Harry resolved after that they would train harder. If he couldn't remove the block than he would train till he didn't need to remove the block. He also pushed Lily even harder. As a result they started to withdraw even more from the rest of the school.

Even though Harry tried to set aside time for the Marauders he tended to forget a lot or would lose track of time in training sessions.

Sirius started to get agitated at this. He probably would have taken it out on Harry too if he had seen him enough to give him his opinion on the matter. Peter even started to worry which usually didn't happen. He was starting to become jealous of all the time Harry was spending with Lily. He attributed the abnormally cold attitude that Harry showed towards him to this time, because Lily had never really been friendly with him or even paid him any attention in the past.

Remus however kept silent as he started to observe more and more un-James-like behavior. His suspsions continued to build, but he still couldn't pin down the exact thing that was different about his friend.

* * *

It had been a week since Harry and Lily had discovered the ritual, and they were training more than they had done on a normal day during the summer.

Harry and Lily were training again that night after dinner in the Room of Requirement when they decided to take a break after going at it for the past hour and a half.

"Harry," Lily started as they sat down to the water the room had provided.

"What?" Harry asked back continuing to catch his breath.

"I know that you mission is important and all, but if you keep tiring yourself like you are now, you won't be around to even attempt your mission. This past week you have been harder on yourself than you needed to be. You have withdrawn so much, that you don't do much else beside train and go to classes. Sirius is starting to get angry at you, and I think Peter is a little jealous of all the time we spend together. Then there is Remus. I can tell he is watching you, and you haven't been exactly on top of your game. He might figure you out if it keeps going on like this. I'm starting to worry about you." Lily said all at once so he couldn't interrupt her.

Harry however didn't immediately answer like she thought he would. He thought about it, before he responded bitterly at that, "I don't think I'll kill my self. Don't you remember the Prophecy I told you about, '_Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives._' That part right there tells you. I can't die unless Voldemort does it himself. I doubt a little training will do much. And who cares about the Marauders. It isn't like they can help anyways. Sirius and Remus would probably freak out that I killed James, and I don't care what happens to that no good rat, Pettigrew."

Lily was taken back by his answer. She thought about snapping back at him, but that would probably just make things worse. "This is because of the ritual, isn't it? You have been like this ever since last week when we found it. You know we could just find your parents and have the ritual taken off. It isn't that big of a deal you know."

Lily regretted what she said immediately. Harry lost his tough exterior as she could see him fight to keep his emotions under control.

Harry shook his head and replied, "No. I can't. What if I tell them and that changes their future or something? I could never be born. Then this would be my last chance at beating Voldemort. If I am never born the world won't even have a hope. It would be just like handing the world over to Voldemort on a silver platter. I can't do that, no I won't do that. I refuse to do anything that might jeopardize that."

Lily had never thought of that, but she doubted that something like that would ever happen. From the little that he had told her of his parents she could tell they were deeply in love, and she doubted that his story would change that. Never the less she never brought the subject up again.

* * *

Harry started to go easier in training, and even spent more time then usual with the Marauders. It seemed to calm down Peter and Sirius, though Harry didn't really give a damn how Peter felt. It also seemed to dull the werewolf friend's doubts of him a little.

As Halloween approached the Marauder's become much more active. They pulled pranks almost daily the week before Halloween.

That time become one of the best Harry could ever remember having at Hogwarts. He enjoyed how everyone, except for the Slytherins, treaded lightly around him. They all did whatever they could, hoping to be in their graces when it came to a prank. Sirius found it particularly funny. He said that he never got use to this every year.

But, the Marauder's didn't pull any punches. They dulled out their pranks as hard as ever, the Slytherins being the ones targeted most.

The boys plotted every night. The coming Halloween feast would be the greatest the Marauders had ever seen at Hogwarts. What they had planned would leave its mark on the school for years to come. Harry was, needless to say, anxious for the day to finally arrive.

* * *

The Saturday before Halloween, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"It is with great pleasure that I am announcing that tomorrow will be the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. The Board of Governors has agreed that in the spirit of Halloween that all student third year and above, with signed permission slips on file, will be allowed to visit the village. There will be at least two staff members available in the village just in case a situation arises where they are needed. If such a situation is to occur, you are to report it to the one of the on duty staff members immediately, and then you are to come straight back to the castle. If a staff member fires a large symbol in the shape of the Hogwarts crest into the air, **all** students are to report back to the castle immediately. This is for your own safety. Other than these precautions I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend and a safe visit to the village."

A cheer went through the entire student body, after Dumbledore had sat down.

Sirius grinned as did the rest of the Marauders.

"You know what this means boys. We stock up, and Halloween will be most memorable of them all," Sirius said smirking.

"Here, here to that." Harry said raising his glass in a toast. The other three Marauders quickly followed.

Lily just shook her head, "What do you four have planned this year, I wonder."

"I'll tell you this: this will be the most memorable Halloween feast Hogwarts has ever seen." Harry told her smiling.

Lily tried to badger the rest of the truth out of the four boys, but none of them would spill. She didn't give up until the meal was done. After though she became resigned to the fact that she would just have to find out like everyone else. She just hoped they excluded her from their Halloween fun.

* * *

Harry awoke Sunday morning earlier than normal. From what Harry could here outside his bed so had the other Marauders. Harry slowly got out of his bed and greeted the other boys. They were grumpy, but they all agreed that they couldn't sleep even if they tried. The first Hogsmeade visit was always a big event for them. They needed to stock up on prank supplies and other such stuff that would need for the term.

Harry quickly got up and dressed and managed to be the first one down. He said a quick good bye as he wanted to get a little training done before breakfast.

Lily was already down in the common room waiting.

"How do you get up so early? I swear I can't get up until nine on the weekends, and yet here you are ready and it is only seven thirty in the morning." Harry exclaimed to the girl who looked up from her book.

"That is because I don't stay up all night talking about pranks and girls and who knows what else with his friends." She said giving him a pointed look.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "Well I'm going to do a little bit of light training before breakfast, you are welcome to join me if you want."

"I better or you might not just stick to 'light' training." Lily said rolling her eyes.

Lily quickly put her book away and followed Harry out of the common room. The two of them quickly made their way to the Room of Requirement.

The two of them mostly had "target" practice that morning. They didn't want to tire themselves out because they wanted to be able to fully enjoy the trip later that day. After almost an hour and a half the two friends decided to head down to breakfast that would be served shortly.

Harry and Lily made it down to breakfast talking and everyone they passed in the halls seemed to be in a good mood. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were already down in the Great Hall when they arrived. The three boys were hurriedly shoving food down their throats. Well, at least Sirius was. Remus and Peter were eating at a far more reasonable pace.

Harry smiled. The more Harry got to know Sirius as a friend instead of a godfather the more the boy reminded him of his old friend Ron. It was a refreshing thought and a depressing one all at once. He was getting to know his godfather like he never had, but at the same time he was reminded of how much he missed his old friend.

The couple sat down and started to eat. The conversation all over the Hall was generally light hearted and there were smiles on most of the faces.

The five young adults paced the time till it was time to leave for the village talking about what all they would be doing in the village that day.

Sirius of course wanted to stock up on his supplies. Remus wanted to check out the book store, to see if a book he had wanted was released yet, to which Sirius rolled his eyes.

That wasn't anything till Harry said that he would like to visit the book store. Sirius' eyes bugged out. "You in a book store don't make me laugh. You have had your mum buy your books every year because you thought going into the story would drain your mischief or something."

"Don't be silly. I would like to pick up some more books. I am running out things to train in, and I would like to get some more so I don't get bored." Harry replied.

Harry supposed it was half true. He was starting to run low on things to train. Most of the spells in the books from the Potter vault were too complicated or just too much energy to be practical or for Harry to even use. He wanted to get a few books on magic theory and exercises that he could use to help develop his power.

"Well why don't we stop sitting here talking about it and leave already? McGonagall and Slughorn just walked out with Filch. They will be checking students at the door." Sirius said as he stood up.

The rest of the group stood up and quickly followed Sirius out the door.

The five of them were quickly checked off the list and they were the first ones on their way to Hogsmeade.

The group continued to talk happily as the five of them walked the long road to the village. The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze blowing around leaves. It was the perfect fall day for a trip to Hogsmeade.

The path was soon full of other chatting groups that were also making their way down to the only all wizarding town in the UK.

The first stop that they made was the bookstore; Sirius' excuse was he wanted to get done with quickly. Remus and Harry were on strict instructions to keep their selection to a minimum and to spend as little time as possible.

With those instructions he ushered them quickly into the bookstore while he and Peter waited outside.

Remus, Harry, and Lily quickly made their way inside and started making their choices.

Remus was the first done after only ten minutes of looking he found his book and had checked out.

Harry on the other hand had already picked out an armful of books. Lily was also picking out a few books.

After an hour or so, Sirius finally barged into the store. "What in the world is taking you two so long? It has been an hour already. Hurry up!"

The storekeeper was not pleased at his outburst and pushed him out the door slamming it in his face. He then came over to Harry and Lily who were finally ready. They each had their arms piled dangerously with various books.

They quickly set them down on the counter so that they wouldn't drop them.

"Is this all for the two of you?" The shopkeeper asked astonished at the number and types of books the two had picked out.

Harry nodded his head. The clerk then started to look at each book and pushed a button on an old muggle style cash register. "Would you like me to bag this for you?" The clerk asked.

"No thanks. I brought my own bag." Harry replied. He pulled out his school bag and proceeded to stuff every single book into his expanded bag. Even with the enlarged interior he still had to give a few to Lily to put in her bag.

Once they were through the clerk spoke up again. "That will be 90 galleons 10 sickles and one knut please." Harry pulled his still bulging money pouch from his pocket and carefully counted out the required amount.

The clerk thanked them and then they quickly made their way out as they say Sirius was starting to get agitated again through the front window.

"Took you long enough, what did you do buy out the entire store?" Sirius snapped annoyed at the two of them.

"Come on, you know you are going to be in Zonko's forever just like you always are." Harry retorted.

"Ya, but now I'll have to do half my shopping there before lunch and then finish afterwards. I wanted to make a clean sweep of it before we ate." Sirius said sullen as he slumped off towards the joke shop.

Lily rolled her eyes and pulled Harry along after the rest of their group.

The group slowly made their way down the packed the street into the even more crowded joke shop.

Just like Harry had predicted Sirius spent an enormous amount of time in the shop getting everything that he could find.

By the time that they were finished it was one o'clock and they were all starting to get hungry. They made their way down to the Three Broomsticks, which turned out to be easier than they thought, because everyone else was heading there also.

By some luck they were able to get a table with a window and they sat down as Sirius went to order them some food from the bar.

The five of them talked happily as they waited for their food.

Their food finally arrived and they ate their fill. When they were finished they started to talk as they let their bodies digest their meal. Harry however was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Out of curiosity he started to scan the room. Once he finished he did a double take.

"You know what guys. I just noticed, but I don't see a single Slytherin in the entire pub. I think something might be up." Harry said as the bad feeling became three times worse.

Sirius quickly scanned the room, "I think we just got lucky. I doubt any thing…" Sirius stopped as a large boom rocked the pub. The glass rumbled and the floor shook violently.

Then an unnatural hush fell over the room. Harry looked out the window and a gigantic red version of the Hogwarts crest shot into the air, but it wasn't there for long. An even bigger green skull with a snake protruding through the mouth eclipsed it seconds after the crest had appeared.

Then it seemed that the volume had been turned back up as most of the patrons started to scream and run out of the building.

Harry cursed. He had never been good at history, or even cared for that matter. If he had, he would have realized this was the day that Voldemort attacked Hogsmeade, but Harry did not know this and went into action immediately.

"Remus, Sirius, you two get all the students and anyone else up to the castle and warn a staff member. Lily, you know what we have to do." Harry said going into commander mode. He looked Lily who shook her head. "Well now that we all know what we have to do lets go, and be careful. Don't do anything stupid. NOW MOVE!"

Harry and Lily promptly disappeared, before the others could argue back.

* * *

Harry and Lily quickly appeared outside on a hill that over looked the town of Hogsmeade. Harry quickly scanned the area around the village and he spotted where they were. There was a mass of black figures on the opposite side of the village from Hogwarts.

"We should appear behind them in those trees. We can then attack then from behind before they can make it too far into the city. We should be able to distract for at least long enough for Dumbledore and some of the staff to appear." Harry said assessing the situation. "Another thing, try to stay in the tree line. We can use the trees as a shield."

Lily nodded and the two teens disappeared again.

* * *

At the same time the three remaining Marauders snapped into action. Sirius, being the charismatic person he is, quickly got the attention the frightened patrons.

Sirius quickly explained to them to calmly make their way up to the castle and they would be able to find safety within the wards of the school. It took a little convincing, but they were finally able to get the crowd moving out of the pub. There was some pushing and shoving and lot of shouts, but finally they all made it out.

Sirius and Remus then proceeded to dash into all the stores they could to warn everyone to flee for the castle as quickly and orderly as possible.

* * *

Harry and Lily appeared instantly in the trees that were on the back side of the approaching Deatheaters.

"Try to only disable them. We want to capture as many as possible. It won't look good if we just start killing them." Harry told her.

Then the two of them started to dash from tree to tree firing a spell at the moving Deatheaters. A few went down from extremely strong stunners before the leader of the forty or so Deatheaters noticed the small attack.

"What is this? Is this the best Dumbledore can do? A few wet behind the ears fourth years hiding in the trees to defend his school. I'm shocked. You five stay here and deal with those pests. We continue on to the village.

Five Deatheaters separated themselves from the group and moved towards the trees. The rest continued on their way as the five taunted Harry and Lily.

"There isn't time to waste. Remus and Sirius won't have enough time to get most of the students back to the castle grounds. We need to be more forceful. On the count of three we jump out and fire Multiple Stunners at the five of them and then attack the rest. We need to stall them for as long as possible." Harry told Lily. Lily just nodded here head. "1…2…3!"

The two of them jumped out and shouted, "**_Potentio Mutiplo Stupefy!_**"

Six arcs of bright red light flew through the air and shattered the shield that the five had put up in anticipation of their first move. The five all fell to the ground unconscious.

"Come on! The others have reached the village. We need to get down there and help." Harry said astonished at the pace the other Deatheaters had taken towards the village.

Harry and Lily quickly ran down the path to the remaining Deatheaters.

* * *

Sirius and Remus had just run out of Zonko's when the first Deatheaters started to move into the town.

"Damn! They are here already. We need to get to Honeydukes. It is closer and it is quicker to get back up into the castle." Remus told Sirius as a Deatheater spotted them.

"Lookie, lookie, what we have here, a few students out of the castle. I guess we will just have to punish you," The Deatheater faded off into cackles as another two Deatheaters appeared behind the duo, Peter had retreated with the rest of the students to the castle.

Sirius didn't wait however and fired off the first spell of the three on two duel. The duel that would make the two boys realize how serious this war really was and how close it would come to them.

* * *

Harry and Lily meanwhile had finally been able to catch up to the Deatheaters that still hadn't entered the village.

Harry fired off the first spell he could think of, "_Jabitha!_"

A deadly green lightening bolt of fire flashed through the air and skewered two Deatheaters through the back. They immediately burst into green flames and their bodies became nothing more than ash.

The leader, who was still ordering how the groups of three Deatheaters of should be entering the village turned when he heard the screams of some of his mean.

"So it was only two of you. I don't know how you got through those five, but I doubt you will be so lucky this time. Groups 11, 12, and 13 deal with those two nuisances. I don't care how you do it just do it! The rest of you dogs get into the city now and destroy any building you see and kill any thing that moves!"

With that the rest of the Deatheaters charged into the town.

Nine Deatheaters stayed behind and their masks glared up at them with their permanent sneers etched on their surface.

"Just take them down as quickly as you can. We don't have time to waste." Harry told Lily.

Lily nodded and they entered their battle stance.

The Deatheaters just laughed.

Harry and Lily proceeded to draw a huge an 'X' in the air. (They had found the spell he had used against Snape.) This time however a fine white mist seeped out of the X they had drawn in the air. The spells hit three Deatheaters and the three Deatheaters promptly burst into white flames before the mists slammed into some huge rocks that exploded with the contact.

Dust filled the air and the Deatheaters started coughing and the flaming Deatheaters screamed in pain as they slowly burned to death.

A Deatheater shouted a spell and all the debris in the area had cleared. Somehow though, the Deatheaters had been able to form a circle around the pair.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" All six of them shouted at the same time.

Six beams of green light raced for them as Harry instantaneously was yanked out of his body so fast that he started to pull on his hair in pain, but it didn't help the pain came from his body. His body quickly stepped behind Lily and clutched his wand with a hand on each end of the wand. It then shouted "**_ASKOK RED!_**"

A brilliant warm red sphere of light encased the two of them and the six beams of green light collided with the red sphere that turned a menacing red. But the sphere held and then turned vivid green as the six beams shot back at the six assailants. The six were surprised to say the least as they got hit with their own spell that was supposed to be unblockable. The red sphere faded and a very frightened Lily looked around at the six dead bodies situated in a circle around them.

But, Harry didn't return to his body. He continued to watch as his body looked up into the sky and pointed its wand straight up. It then yelled out another unknown spell. "**_Omni Deatheaters Auganj Asaph Virixian!_**"

A huge of beam of solid gold light shot up into a dark cloud that had formed.

The cloud turned golden and Harry saw three bright beams of light fall from the sky before he blacked out.

* * *

The fight between the two Marauders and the Deatheaters was going fiercely, but the two young men were starting to wear. They had managed to incapacitate a Deatheater, but the other two quickly revived him and the fight was back on.

The Deatheaters were past trying to toy with them, and had moved on to using serious spells. Green beams were flying through the air as the two boys dodged and rolled however they could. That is when they noticed a gold cloud in the sky that started shooting beams of gold light out. The first three hit the three Deatheaters and the Killing Curses that were in the air faded to nothing as the three figures fell to the ground their eyes glazed over in death.

They continued to watch duller beams fall from the sky as the cloud started to lose its color.

When everything had died down an eerie silence filled the air. There was only the cackle of fire in the background.

Remus and Sirius stood up and looked around. They could see a building on fire and all around they could see the unconscious forms of Deatheaters that had been moments ago attacking the village.

They turned as they heard hurried foot steps coming down the road.

"Boys, are you two ok?" Dumbledore asked as he came running down the road faster than any old should be able to.

"We're ok, sir. We were just warning students and getting them up to the school when three of them attacked us. We were doing ok, but we started to tire. Then these beams of golden light came down from the sky and hit them. They fell over dead. I think all of them are dead. James and Lily are out there, too. They apparated out right after ordering me and Sirius to get all the students back up to the castle." Remus answered him.

"Thank you boys. You have done a great service. Get up to the castle and let Madam Pomfrey look you over. I will make sure to find Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. Now off to the castle." Dumbledore quickly ushered them down the road, and he then continued down the road surveying the damage and the Deatheaters lying on the ground. Most of them were just unconscious, but Dumbledore found a few that were dead. They appeared to have died instantly as there was a surprised look on their faces. It wasn't the look of terror that normally accompanied the Killing Curse.

Dumbledore was baffled at this. He only knew one curse besides the Killing Curse that would kill a man instantly, and he didn't know a single person that could cast it even himself. It was a bit of a legend. But, how could anyone have done this. There were at least twenty Deatheaters that were unconscious or dead in the city. The first thing amiss he found was two piles of ash.

Then he heard the crying. He looked up and he saw a red headed girl on the ground holding the head of a body in her lap.

He walked up to the girl and took in the situation. There were six dead bodies in a circle around the two of them and Mr. Potter looked as if he had died, but Dumbledore could see the slight rise and fall of his chest.

"Ms. Evans what happened here?" Dumbledore calmly asked.

"James and I decided to help distract the Deatheaters and we came up here to attack them. At first they only left five to take care of us. They thought it was just a few fourth years. James decided that we needed to get past them, because Remus and Sirius didn't have enough time to get everyone out. By the time we got here a lot had already entered the village. They left 3 groups to take care of us and the rest entered the city in a charge. Harry and I fired a spell, but it ended up destroying some stones and the debris overcame us." Lily paused for a minute catching her breath.

Lily then continued on, "When the debris cleared, the six Deatheaters we were fighting all shot Killing Curses at us. James then grabbed me and shouted a spell and a red dome of light covered us. I could see through it, and saw the six curses hit the sphere and the sphere absorbed all the curses. Then I had to close my eyes as the sphere brightened. I could see it turn green and then it faded. When I opened my eyes all the Deatheaters were dead and James was looking at the sky.

"He then raised his wand and shouted a loud bit and a golden beam hit a cloud that had formed. Then gold beams started to fall from the cloud, but then he fell down. I don't know what's wrong with him. He won't wake no matter what I do. He isn't dead is he, Professor?" Lily asked as she broke down into to tears.

"No, Ms. Evans, I don't think he is. I think Mr. Potter has over done himself a bit. He should be ok after a good long rest and a few restorative potions. He just exerted himself a little too much. Now why don't you get up to the castle and see Madam Pomfrey. I will make sure that Mr. Potter gets there also. Now on with you, I wish to see the damage done before I return to the castle and thank you for all you and Mr. Potter have done. You shall be rewarded for your bravery." Dumbledore dismissed her.

Reluctantly Lily left Harry lying there and started the long journey back up to the castle.

* * *

Harry awoke to several voices around him.

"I don't think he will be awake for awhile. He really over did it. Honestly, he should be dead. The only thing I can think of is that he is so young that he was able to some how live through it. There just isn't another explanation." A woman's voice said above him.

"Thank you, Poppy. I think that I will stay here for a little while just in case. And, I think you are going to need to let Ms. Evans in or you might need a new door." A voice that was clearly Dumbledore's said off to Harry's right.

Harry heard the retreating footsteps of high heels on the stone floor and then, the slamming of the door to Madam Pomfrey's office.

Harry tried to sit up and groaned.

"Ahh, Mr. Potter, so you have awakened. I was afraid you would be out for a bit longer than that. You seem to be made out of some tougher stuff than that evidentially. I would like to ask you a few questions about the attack yesterday." Dumbledore said as his eyes twinkled.

"Yesterday? Have I really been out for a day?" Harry asked groggily as he finally managed to sit up.

"Yes, I am afraid that you have been. But, back to the attack. What exactly happened, yesterday after you felt the explosion in the Three Broom Sticks?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry began to explain what he and Lily had done on the previous day. He conveniently forgot however the two spells he had used. It would have been hard to explain about the block he had. It would raise too many questions that he did not want to answer.

Dumbledore was disappointed, but did not push the issue.

* * *

Madam Pomfrey barely let Harry out on time for the feast. He had been in a hurry to leave ever since he had awoken. If James had been in here as much as she claimed he would be found out before long.

Harry quickly made his way out of the infirmary back to the tower to shower and change his clothes. Harry took a quick shower and dressed and made his way down to the feast late.

Harry entered the Great Hall, and everyone in the hall looked up at him and started to clap, excluding most of the Slytherins.

Harry smiled though. He was happy to see that he hadn't missed the festivities. This was the second reason he didn't want to miss this night. It was going to be one hell of a hilarious night.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Potter. It is good to see that you are back with the rest of the school. I believe everyone was just thanking you for what you did yesterday, but if you would please sit down we will continue with our wonderful feast we have just begun." Dumbledore said in greeting.

Harry nodded his head and headed down to the seat that Lily had evidently saved him right between her and Remus.

"So I see the activities for the night have not started yet." Harry said off-handedly to Sirius.

"I was just waiting for you to show up, Prongs, good friend. I will activate it all now. _I solemnly swear this is for no good!_" Sirius said into his cup.

Harry smiled as Lily narrowed her eyes at Harry.

Harry just smirked and started to eat. Then he heard it. There was a loud gasp and he heard about ten forks clatter down on the table. A loud mummer ran through the hall, and Harry couldn't help but look up.

When he did it was a sight it was. Dumbledore and McGonagall were starting to make out rather fiercely up at the Head Table. But, as he looked up he could see more and more couples form in the crowd as more people started to fall under the affects of the spell as they looked on in horror at the sight.

The Marauders were laughing their asses off. That was till someone grabbed Harry and forcibly turned his head. All of a sudden a face was shoved in his and Lily started to make out rather wildly with him. Harry started to try and fight her off, but she had too good of a grip on him.

He could hear the laughter from the Marauders increase even more.

Finally Lily had to stop and Harry managed to get a few words out before she continued. "Cancel this now!" He hissed through his teeth. Harry saw Sirius shake his head before Lily's face was shoved back into his.

After a good three or four minutes of this madness, Sirius finally counteracted the spell and fireworks started to go off in the air. The eventually formed the words, "The Marauders would like to wish the residence a Happy Halloween! From Messers Moony, Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail." After the words had been in the air for a few minutes the words exploded into sparks and there was a bunch of giggling from all the girls and a few shouts from the males of the school.

Dumbledore clapped his hands and stood up. "Thank you Messers Moony, Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail. I am sure that you will be remembered long after you have left these halls, but if you are finished now can we please get back to our wonderful feast." Dumbledore sat down with a chuckled and continued on like nothing had happened.

Professor McGonagall looked horrified, but didn't contradict her superior.

The rest of the feast passed as Lily kept here head down with a seemingly permanent blush on her face. Harry instead glared at Sirius.

"I thought I said that Lily was to be excluded from the effects." Harry hissed at the boy who was still fighting the urge laugh.

"Just think of it as a 'getting out of the infirmary' present." Sirius told him back he broke back into a fit of laughter.

Harry glared even harder at him, and Lily just bowed her head and flushed an even brighter shade of red.

* * *

A/N: So what did you think? This chapter was a bit longer than the other chapters I have written. I figured I would make up for the short chapter last time. I hope this was sufficient. If you are wondering where I'm getting my spells, I have got them from a nifty collection of fan made spells. I have it as a favorite on my profile if you are interested. It is down a ways, but it should be there somewhere. I have modified some of the spells, but the main point of the spells is still there. Perhaps I'll post it on my Yahoo! Group. I have now planned out approximately how I want to have everything flow. They way I see it there should be about 40 chapters, but I'm thinking about splitting it into two stories with the sequel starting right after they graduate. I'm not sure what I will do, but it won't matter really since it will still just be this story will continue either way. Well that is all I have to say for now. R&R! 


	9. Chapter 9 Times to be Thankful For

A/N: Well it is time for the next chapter. I appreciate the constructive criticism given by **marka**. I will try to follow what you said. Hopefully it will make my story more interesting to read, and it will add a sizeable amount of length to the story too. One thing I will say though, when I say Deatheaters, I mean Voldemort's human followers. His elite I believe would just be his inner circle. Plus this is the First War and there are bound to be more Deatheaters then. Thanks again for the suggestions, **marka**. I'll talk and give my excuses at the end. Well now that that is over on with the show!

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 9: Times to be Thankful For

Not much happened, the week following Halloween. Wherever Harry went people would applaud him or slap him on the back. Though, Harry did hear a rumor that Dumbledore had to forbid several reporters access to the school.

----

Monday night after classes, when Harry and Lily usually started training, Lily managed to convince Harry to take the week off, but it wasn't an easy thing to do.

"Come on, Lily. Let's head to the room and start our practice for the night." Harry called across the common room.

Harry waited for a second, but Lily acted like she hadn't heard him. So Harry walked over to her. "Come on, Lily. It's time to start training."

Lily looked up at him from the book she was reading. "Do we really have to tonight, James?" She put on the best sad puppy dog eyes Harry had ever seen

It was all Harry could do to look away from her, and reply. "Yes, Lily. I need to study more, and so do you."

"But, come on. Can't we take the week off? Look how well we did in Hogsmeade." Lily replied simply.

"Do I need to remind you how close we came to being killed? We aren't ready yet." Harry replied getting anxious.

"Come on, Ha...James. We did really well. We can afford to take the week off. Let's just spend it relaxing and hanging out with friends. Maybe you can repair some of the damage you have caused by separating yourself these past weeks." Lily started to gain steam and her voice rose in volume as she got agitated.

"I don't think we can. We have a lot more ground to cover. And, if you won't come, I'll train alone!" Harry said in a barely restrained voice.

By now the whole common room was looking at the two of them, but neither of them noticed this.

"Oh, come on, James. You have been training every day since summer. You need to take a break. You are going to over do it. Not only are you going to hurt yourself, you are hurting your friends by ignoring them. While I don't like to encourage pranks, you need to hang out with your friends. Take a week off and enjoy life for a change. We are still in school for Pete's sake. Enjoy the little bit that is left of your childhood." Harry still didn't look convinced, so Lily started looking around for backup. "Sirius, help me out here!"

Sirius luckily came to her rescue. "She is right, mate. You should take a break. I'm sure a week off isn't going to hurt that much. You should just relax for a bit. Maybe you could spend a little quality time with a certain redhead." Sirius said nudging Harry with his elbow.

Harry blushed a deep red that would rival any Weasley. But, he still didn't relent, "I still need more practice. Look what happened after the attack. I was out for a day. That just isn't acceptable." Harry didn't sound as convinced of himself, but still made the attempt.

Lily gave him a meaningful look that said, _I know exactly why you were out for a day._

Harry finally relented. "Fine, I will rest for **one** week. Then **we** go back to training."

"That's great, mate. Do you think me and Remus might join the two of you? If it wasn't for those golden threads of light I don't think we would have made it." Sirius asked slapping Harry on the back.

Harry though for a moment, and then looked to Lily to see what she thought. Lily nodded at him and smiled.

"Sure thing, Padfoot, you and Moony are more then welcome to join us. The more the merrier." Harry said with a smile.

----

During the entire fight Remus sat in a chair about five feet away reading a book, at least he was until the actual argument started.

Remus watched his two friends, which had gotten along so well this year, have their first real argument that school year. This was just one change that he had seen. It was abnormal. James and Lily use to never get along. Lily was always after him about pulling some prank or something else, but this year they had not argued or fought once till now. And, even this fight was different. They were almost talking in code. They kept implying things that only the other really seemed to understand.

Then there was how James was acting alone. He wasn't as up-beat like he had been in the past. He was more serious and was always training. It seemed like he was preparing to fight a war that nobody else could win. James had never been that serious before. It had forgone contact with Remus and his other fellow Marauders. James had never let anything come between him and his friends, whether it was school work or anything else.

James had also become unusually cold towards Peter. He avoided talking to him whenever he could, and when he couldn't he was short and to the point and never just chatted with him. Remus thought he might have seen a look of contempt on his face directed towards Peter when James thought no one else was looking.

Remus quickly lost himself in his thoughts as he half hearted listened to the argument like everyone else in the common room. Remus quickly snapped out of his memories and thoughts though when he heard Lily's slip up

"Ha…James…" Remus didn't hear much after that as thoughts started to fly through his head. Remus not allowing himself to believe any of the wild theories his mind developed.

----

True to his word, Harry didn't train any that week besides the work required for his classes.

One of the first things he did was something he had sorely missed knew it was best to give up, flying.

Harry had quit James's position on the quidditich team the very first week of school. The captain, some seventh-year girl that he hadn't bothered to remember the name of, had not been very happy about it, but it was a joy that Harry just couldn't afford to indulge himself in. Plus, Harry wasn't very good at playing chaser.

Harry had discovered one night that summer that James had shrunken his broom and placed it in his robe that faithful day after he arrived in the past. Harry decided he was going to use it, because his Firebolt from his own trunk might raise too many eyebrows here in the past.

Harry, Sirius, Remus, and several other older Gryffindor started a pickup game that ended up drawing a large crowd from all houses, bar Slytherins, and ended up lasting several hours.

(A/N: I'm sorry but, I'm not good at writing the whole quidditch thing.)

----

Tuesday was a fateful night. Sirius decided that they would be having one of their "adventure" nights as he put it with a wink.

To start with the four of them snuck down to the Slytherin common room. It was relatively easy. Peter and Sirius transformed into their animagus forms and Remus and Harry were under his invisibility cloak. There was a close call with Filch's cat, it was Filches first year and he wasn't as bitter as he had been in the future, but Sirius managed to scare it off before it ran under the invisibility cloak.

Harry stifled a laugh as the cat fled in terror, what he wouldn't give to see Mrs. Norris doing that.

They continued without further incident.

When they reached the entrance Sirius and Peter untransformed.

"So, oh masterful leader, how do you propose we get into the Slytherin Common Room?" Sirius asked with a mocking bow.

Evidently they had not developed the Marauder's map yet, so Harry took it upon himself to "invent" the map.

Harry slowly pulled out the old batter piece of parchment.

"I plan to do so with this." He said brandishing the map at Sirius.

Sirius took the map and looked at it. "You must be losing it. This is just some old parchment; really beat up old parchment at that."

"This is more than it seems, _I solemnly swear I am up to no good._" Harry intoned with a smile with his wand in the center of the map.

Slowly the lines flowed from his wand tip and formed the only map of Hogwarts in existence.

Sirius took at the map and looked at in awe. "Where did you get this, Prongs? This is absolute genius. We could do so much with this."

"What is it, Padfoot?" Remus asked.

Sirius shoved the map into Remus' hands. Remus looked at the map, "Holy shit. How did you get this?" Remus exclaimed before he passed the map off to Peter.

"I made it this summer. You didn't think I would really only train this summer. In my spare time I made this. It has all the secret passages we have ever found, and the best part is, as long as someone knows or has known the password for anything in castle since the map was made, we can find it on this map. You just go up to the passworded area and look at the map and the password appears." Harry said with pride.

"You've been holding out on us. We could have used this so much. We could do almost anything with this." Sirius said retaking the map holding it like it was the Holy Grail.

"So let's get on with the nights festivities. You can conjure a bucket of warm water silently right, Peter? And you two brought the shaving cream right?" Harry asked his fellow Marauders.

Peter, Remus, and Sirius all nodded their heads.

"Ok let's get started. I think we can start with the first years. Make sure to cast silencing charms on your boots and the shaving cream canisters. We don't want to wake them up, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few traps set. Now let's go show all these inbreeding idiots how to have little fun." Harry said finishing his pre-prank pep talk.

His other friends gave a muffled cheer and they re-entered the dungeon hallway.

"So, what's the password?" Remus asked in a whisper.

Harry looked at the map and saw his dot form a speech bubbled. "Ugh, the password is _Mudblood_."

With that the stone walls slid open and the four entered the deserted common room silently.

They stealthily entered the first-year boys' dorm.

They quickly started their work. Harry and Peter started conjuring buckets of warm water and binding each boy's hand in the water as Remus and Sirius started covering their hair, and made fake beards on each of them.

They slowly progressed through all seven dorms, the sixth year dorm taking a little longer than the others, because Sirius thought it absolutely necessary to shave his brothers head before putting the shaving cream on. They then quickly snuck out and before they left Harry cast a simply recording charm on each room before the four of them quickly left fighting down their laughter.

They quickly entered the classroom they had been in earlier and they all started laughing.

"So what do you have recording their reactions, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"I have a crystal up in my dorm that is storing it. I figured we could discretely show it to the entire school. That should teach them." Harry said.

After they finally got their laughter under control they quietly snuck back up to their dorms. Harry quickly checked the now glowing green crystal he had prepared earlier. With that he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of what the morning would bring.

----

Harry was awoken by an over enthusiastic Sirius. Harry glared up at Sirius and his other friends laughing at him as he tried to ignore the glare of the sunlight flooding his once dark bed.

"Come on, sleepy head. We have a show to produce. You have the crystal right?" Sirius asked laughing.

Harry grabbed the crystal off his bedside table and looked at it. It was now pulsating red angrily. "Ya, and from the look of the crystal someone particularly violently ended the spell. We are going to be in for a good show. Give me a moment and I'll be ready."

Sirius, Remus and Peter stepped back and Harry got up and grabbed his clothes before rushing into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later Harry stepped out of the bathroom with his hair still wet from his shower.

"Took you long enough, let's go." Sirius said as he impatiently left the room. Harry and his other friend quickly followed and the moved swiftly through the common room and then down the castle using every shortcut they knew.

The four of them entered the Great Hall and did their best to hide the giddy feeling all of them shared as they quickly say down.

Lily looked at them suspiciously, "What have you four done now?" She hissed at Harry, who had sat down next to her.

"Nothing," Harry said with an evil grin on his face.

"Did you enchant the doors like you said you would, Prongs?" Sirius asked once Lily had gone back to her meal.

Harry nodded, "All I have to do is tap the crystal and it will start to play, and I doubt anyone but Dumbledore could stop it before it is done."

Sirius grinned and the three other Marauders quickly joined him.

Harry gave a few more minutes and then he finally tapped the crystal discretely under the table. Harry felt the crystal become hot before several gasp went through the room.

A picture of all the Slytherin boy's dormitories appeared in a collage on the entrance to the great hall. It then show all the boys starting to awake and realizing they had all pissed their beds and were covered in shaving cream.

Laughter started to fill the Great Hall as the Marauder's all looked over at the Slytherin table. All of the boys weren't laughing and were all blushing profusely. The only exceptions were a few older boys.

One just happened to be Snape who was furious. He stood up and ran to the entrance to see if he could get out of the room, but he wasn't able to pass the pictures covering the door. Snape then drew his wand and Harry burst out laughing even harder than before. This was going to be good.

Snape quickly tried to dispel the image, but at first nothing happened. Then a huge BANG! Filled the hall and Snape was thrown back five feet and was now in his boxers, his clothes disappearing, but the best part was that Snape's picture filled the entire doorway covering all the other pictures shown. The sound of Snape waking up filled the hall over all the laughter in the room. The Snape in the picture started to cuss loudly as he woke up drenched in his own urine and then it got even worse when he looked in a mirror and he saw the shaving cream all over his face and hair. Then the image promptly disappeared and the door way filled with purple dust as golden ribbons formed the message.

_This is brought to you by the Marauders.  
Encores will be shown at the end of lunch and dinner. We hope you have enjoyed the show. Have a nice day._

The letters and smoke disappeared and then the doors burst open magically as all the Slytherin boys rushed to leave hall as fast as they could.

Harry was glad to see that Dumbledore was laughing just as much as any of the students, even though McGonagall was doing her best to stop him and scold him for allowing such childish behavior to continue.

Lily was trying to glare at him but was failing miserably as she tried to stifle her laughter like the rest of the hall.

Harry and the other Marauders calmly picked up their stuff and left the room for their first class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

They quickly entered the room and grabbed their usual seats. All the Slytherins were there and were giving the four of them glares. Everyone knew who the Marauders were even if they couldn't prove it.

The class room quickly filled up and all the student from other houses quickly gave them congratulations on a prank well done before they sat down.

"You really shouldn't have done that. The Slytherins will be out for blood now." Lily said sitting down in the desk next to Harry.

"I know, but I couldn't resist." Harry told her.

"How did you even get into their dorms anyways?" Lily asked now curious.

Harry looked around to make sure no one was listening before leaning over. Harry whispered to her, "I'll show you later."

Harry then sat back up as Professor Hennessey walked into the room.

"Now if everyone could please calm down from the morning's festivities, I have an important announcement to make." He said as all the whispers died out as they listened with rapt attention.

"Starting with this class we will be holding a Dueling Tournament. There will be one or two practice duels every class that will take place in a single elimination format with the championship taking place during the final class of the semester. After each duel we will discuss the techniques used and critique how each witch or wizard could have improved. Are there any questions before I explain all the rules?" Professor Hennessey asked.

No one asked a question, but everyone had a look of excitement on their faces. This was going to be fun.

Professor Hennessey then continued to explain all the rules. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except he gave Harry a meaningful look when he talked about not using any spells that were overly dangerous to their opponent or the rest of the class.

Harry took the hint, though he didn't think any student would be able to force him to go to that level.

----

The other showings of the Slytherins plight that morning went off without a hitch. There were no other attempts of the Slytherins to leave or disabled the viewing. By the time dinner was over everyone in the school had seen the full show twice.

Dumbledore still didn't try to stop the viewing and everyone left dinner with smiles on their faces except for the Slytherins that were sending death glares at the rest of the school. Harry made his way back up to the common room surrounded by his fellow Gryffindors who were all laughing and joking about the showing.

The rest of the week passed in a blur. Harry won his first duel easily and there was little anyone could point out how to change his technique. Lily had also won her first duel, which made Harry immensely proud.

The Marauders also laid off the pranks thinking the one Tuesday had been enough for the week.

The week passed so quickly for Harry, and he was almost sad that his forced break was over.

----

Harry awoke early Sunday morning. He wanted to train a little extra today to make up for a little of the time he had lost this past week. Harry quickly snuck out of the dorm making sure not to wake his roommates after he got dressed in his training clothes.

Harry snuck down the stairs making almost no noise. He thought he would be only the one up, but he was surprised when he saw Lily, Sirius, and Remus sitting in the Common Room looking at the stairs expectantly.

"Lily told us that you might try to sneak out without us. I told her she was crazy, and that you would never be up this early, but it turns out I was wrong." Remus said with a tired laugh.

"Well since everyone is here, do we won't to start training together now?" Harry asked.

There were nods all around and Harry led them all out of the common room and across the castle to the Room of Requirement. Harry quickly led them there and paced the corridor three times as the door to the room appeared on the lone empty wall.

Remus and Sirius were surprised about the room, but quickly got over it as Harry started to drill them to see how far they were along how much work they were going to need to catch up.

It turned out they were much further along then what Harry thought most of his classmates were probably capable of doing it, but they still had a lot of work to catch up to Lily and himself.

----

The next few weeks were quiet. There weren't any attacks in the paper and Harry didn't have any interruption in his day to day life. It surprised him that the Slytherins hadn't tried anything, but his second duel with Snape of all people probably took care of that since, he had wiped the floor with the greasy git, literally.

Remus and Sirius caught on quickly and by the week after Thanksgiving would probably be caught up enough so Harry could get back to his normal training schedule. Their spells weren't quite as powerful as Harry's or even Lily's, she turned out to be more powerful than your average witch or wizard, but they would still be able to overcome most opponents, even some of Voldemort's inner circle if it came down to it.

Harry managed to make enough excuses again to pass up the monthly tromp through the woods and Hogsmeade, though Harry didn't miss the downcast look on Remus and Sirius' faces.

----

As the end of November drew closer Harry could almost feel the tension welling in the air, growing thicker everyday. Harry could tell something big was going to happen on more than one fronts. Harry knew how Voldemort thought, and he wouldn't remain quiet much longer

Harry could also feel the tension among his friends. Peter was really starting to get irritated with Harry giving him the cold shoulder and had taken to hanging out with some of the younger Gryffindors that looked up to him as a hero for being part of the Marauders.

Remus was also suspicious of him. All the extra time they were spending together showed him that he still cared about them as friends, but there was still something strange going on. Where had he gotten all this power? Why had James and Lily's relationship change so much? Those were just some of the questions that went through his mind, but he held his tongue. James hadn't shown anything but care for them, so he was content to continue observing.

Harry saw these doubts and he knew he was going have to explain everything soon to Remus. If not there could be some unpleasant consequences, and too many people might find out his secret. Harry would have to take care of that soon.

Then there was Lily. She and Harry drew even closer. Harry tried to fight it, but sometimes when they were studying in the common room or library he would find himself staring at her with a smile. He didn't always notice it, but every now and then Lily would look up and look into his eyes briefly before she looked down with a furious blush on her face.

Harry didn't realize it, but he was starting to fall for her. The love that he had held for his mother as a son was slowly starting to turn into something much deeper, but Harry didn't see it. He just enjoyed her company and she his.

----

Harry awoke on the 24th of November and he could almost feel the electric charge in the air. Something was definitely going to happen that day.

With that ominous feeling in his stomach, he got ready for the day and left to meet Lily and his friends in the common room before heading down to breakfast

----

A/N: Well there you have it, the ninth chapter. I'm so sorry it took so long, but my supervisor at work decided to be a jackass and told me not to bring my laptop to work because it was "unfair" to all the stockers. All of the stockers even said they didn't care. Come on I am was a night checker. My cleaning of the registers took me an hour and I always shut the top as soon as I heard a customer approach my register, but oh well I don't work there any more so all I have to say is screw them. Now though I am going to be leaving on Friday to move to Arizona. I'll be out of commission for awhile till me and my roommates get the internet set up and I also have to actively search for a new job. I'll try to write while I'm out, but I can't guarantee anything. I wish I could have made this chapter longer, but I wanted to get out so all of you could have some more to read. I'll try to get another chapter up as soon as I can. I also see that I have passed the 100 review mark. That is a land mark that makes me even happier than the first time I made it level 40 in just two weeks (the first time took me almost two months). Well I hope that you all enjoy, and as always R&R.


	10. Chapter 10 Coming Clean

A/N: Well, I have settled into my new apartment, and I am loving it. I haven't started classes (it is the 3rd and I start class on the 5th), but we will see how my school schedules goes before I try to get onto a set writing schedule again. Well, here is my tenth chapter.

A/N (2): I have been getting a lot of reviews about how this is not possible. You must understand how I look at time. The way I look at time is whenever someone would change time an alternate universe would be created. As more and more universes are created all the realities start to deteriorate. Eventually they would all collapse on each other and the universe would be destroyed or it would be one hell of a messed up place. James going psycho is one of the signs that the universes are starting to unravel. Somewhere back a few jumps, Harry was the child of the real James Potter and Lily Potter. So he would be able to get into the Potter vault and Godric's Hollow. But James Potter would only have been his Great-Great-(Keep going I haven't decided how far back it should go) Grand Father, while Lily Potter is his Mother. If you still don't like my story then please don't read. I won't force you.

Harry Potter and the Paradox of Time  
Chapter 10: Coming Clean

_Harry awoke on the 24th of November and he could almost feel the electric charge in the air. Something was definitely going to happen that day._

_With that ominous feeling in his stomach, he got ready for the day and left to meet Lily and his friends in the common room before heading down to breakfast._

* * *

Harry and Lily walked side by side with Sirius and Remus following them down to the hall. Despite the bad feeling Harry had, he couldn't help but smile at Lily as she was telling him about the Charms essay she was working on. 

They slowly made their way down to the hall and entered. The hall was mostly empty. The few students in the hall looked like they were still asleep.

The small entourage took their seats and dug into their breakfast, some with more vigor then others.

Harry and Lily ate at a comfortable pace as the rest of the school began to slowly filter into the hall.

"So, what do we have this morning? I always forget these things," Sirius asked as he stuffed his fifth serving of eggs into his mouth.

"Haven't you been listening? We have Charms for an hour then a break until lunch," Lily said as she buttered a piece of toast.

"Does that mean we are going to be training then? After Charms that is," Remus asked.

Harry nodded his head.

They finished their meal shortly after and left for the Charms classroom.

* * *

Charms went by without any signs of trouble, but Harry's concern weren't lessened any by the calm. More than anything the calm made him more and more certain that something horrible was going to happen, he just couldn't remember what it could be.

All he could think of was, _Why didn't I pay more attention in History Magic? I bet Hermione would know what was going to happen._ But these thoughts brought on the home sickness that he had felt at night lying in his bed trying to fall asleep.

"Too bad I'll never see them again, and even I do, they won't be my…" Harry mumbled under his breath before he caught himself. He thought nobody heard him, but he berated himself mentally for the slip-up in public.

Remus, who was walking behind Harry and Lily, however, had heard Harry's comment. He developed a slight frown, but didn't say anything.

The four of them, Harry, Lily, Sirius, and Remus, made their way to the Room of Requirement in relative silence.

When they reached the room, Harry started them with some simple physical and magical warm up moves, before they started where they had left off the previous Tuesday.

* * *

Harry started seeing signs of trouble at lunch. A person in a white robe came running into the hall and whispered into Dumbledore's ear. Dumbledore jumped up from his seat and with amazing agility for his age rushed out the doors of the Great Hall, the Auror, as Harry had guessed, followed quickly after.

Harry frowned, _So, I was right. I wonder what **he** is doing now._ Harry thought watching the Auror just exiting the Great Hall.

* * *

Harry couldn't concentrate in class for the rest of the afternoon. He managed to lose 15 points in Transfiguration for hitting Sirius with a botched Pig Transfiguration (his partner was Lily not Sirius), who ended up with just a tail, ironically.

The whole gang (including Peter) was eating dinner when the night post owls swarmed into the hall. One swooped down and dropped an Evening Prophet in front of Sirius before flying back off out of the windows at the top of the hall.

Sirius picked up the paper and scanned the front page when his face went completely white and dropped his fork. Harry heard several other people give a scream before fainting.

Harry snatched the paper out of Sirius' limp grip. Harry paled as he read the headline: **DIAGON ALLEY ATTACKED: 15 DEAD, 5 MISSING/INJURED**.

Harry jumped up and ran out of the hall before the tears could start falling from his eyes. He ran wildly not even noticing where he was going.

Suddenly he opened a door and dashed into an empty classroom. He collapsed against the far wall and started to cry and berate himself for not remembering something so horrible that that monster had done.

* * *

Lily watched Harry read the paper and then rush out of the hall. Lily turned to Sirius confused, "What was in the paper, Sirius? Why did he just run out of the hall like that?" 

"Di…Diagon Ally was attacked. There were 15 dead and 5 are missing still or injured. I don't know why James would react like this though. It is a tragedy, no a massacre, but still this is unlike him," Sirius told her shaking his head.

Lily paled; she knew why it was affecting Harry so badly. "We need to find him. Split up and try and get him to go back to the Common Room. Meet there in 30 minutes if you can't find him," Lily told them forcefully before leaving to fulfill her own orders.

The three boys stood dumbstruck for a moment before they too rushed out of the hall.

They split up and all went in different directions. Remus followed his nose. He slowly walked the erratic path that Harry had run without thinking. He eventually ended up on the third floor at the entrance to an old classroom.

He heard someone through the open door sobbing and mumbling. Remus heard some of the words though, "I … of known. That monster…I wish Hermione…why did I even get sent back if I can't do anything." That was all Remus got before he pushed the door open and walked in.

"What is going on, James? You have been acting strange since school started maybe even since summer. I can understand you being upset about Diagon Ally, everyone is, but why are you acting like this. It's like you were from the future or something…" Remus stopped though because Harry's head snapped up and stared in disbelief at Remus.

"W...Why would you say that?" Harry asked him stuttering. His face was still streaked with tears.

Remus' eyes got big and asked in amazement, "You are, aren't you? From the future I mean?"

Harry was too emotionally distraught to care at the moment and just nodded his head solemnly before trying to slump back down to the ground.

He didn't get a chance to though. Remus launched himself at Harry held him up against the wall with a hand grasping Harry's shirt.

"Who are you then, and what did you do with the real James?" Remus said in a rage.

Harry just whispered, "He is dead, and I killed him…"

Remus dropped Harry in surprise, and he slid to the floor limp. "You k...killed him," He stuttered before going back into a rage hauling Harry back up pinning him against the wall. "Does this have something to do with why Lily gets along with you, even though she all but despised James the last few years?"

Harry nodded, "I had shown up in her room at the end of July. The next day I had just finished with a shower, when I heard her scream. I rushed to her room and saw a man with dark-hair starting to rip her shirt off. Then I just lost control and I killed him. I should have just stupefied him. I mean it can't be right to just kill your own father can it. I shouldn't even be here should I?" Harry looked up at Remus with a lost look.

Remus had paled and stumbled back, "James did that?"

Harry nodded, "I can show you in a pensive, as long as we can find one, if you don't believe me."

"I believe you, but did you say Father?" Remus asked.

Harry nodded. "So, that is why, you look almost exactly like him, but who was your mother? Wait, your smell, and the real color of your eyes I can sometimes see. Your mother is Lily, isn't she?" Remus said really quickly.

Harry nodded somberly, "Don't tell her, please. I haven't told her yet. I just wanted to get to know her before I told her. The time I am from I didn't have her or James. I don't even remember seeing them outside of photographs."

"So they were dead in the future you mean," Remus asked saddened at losing his best friend and learning even a fraction of the plight of his best friend's son. He could tell he wasn't lying. It was something he learned how to do with his werewolf senses.

Harry nodded again. Then he started to tell Remus about his life up to that point. Remus heart was torn apart as he heard about what had happened to this young man. Losing his parents at such a young age and growing up with his hateful Muggle relatives. Then everything he went through during his years at Hogwarts. Dealing with Voldemort year after year and then seeing his god-father murdered (which had torn Remus apart even more) and then his mentor a year later murdered by the boy that had been The Marauder's throne in the side for many years. He also understood why Harry had been so cold towards Wormtail all year.

By the time Harry had finished his story, Remus was also in tears. "You couldn't have known Harry. We all fall asleep in Binns' class. Even if you did remember, what could you have done?"

Harry nodded and dried his tears. "I bet everyone is worried about me, aren't they?" Harry said after a short period of silence.

Remus dried his own tears and stood up, "Ya they were expecting us back in the common room forty minutes ago. They will probably think I found you, but we should probably get going. I also think we should tell Sirius some time, too. He will probably figure out eventually, him and James were really close. The only reason I figured it out first is because of me being a werewolf."

"We'll see, but promise you won't tell Lily, not yet at least," Harry begged him.

"I promise I won't tell her, but you are going to have to eventually. The longer you wait the worse she is going to react. You should have told her immediately," Remus warned him.

"I'll tell her eventually. I just want to get know her before she starts to ignore me," Harry said gloomily.

"I doubt she would just ignore you, but we really should be getting back now," Remus said.

"Thank you, Moony," Harry said quietly.

"Don't mention it, and don't even begin to think I blame you for killing James. I know you lost control, and I think James lost it after his parents were killed. Now stop stalling we need to get back to the common room," Remus said chiding him a bit.

Harry nodded and silently followed Remus out the door and back to Gryffindor Tower. Lily pulled Harry to the side as soon as he entered. She whispered soothingly into his ear. Harry nodded and gave her a tight hug. She then backed up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. The two of them quickly looked away from the other and blushed deeply.

* * *

The next days were rather subdued in the castle. Everyone was in a state of shock. Such a loss was huge. Many of the stores had been completely destroyed and most of the dead were employees. It would take a while to rebuild the stores, but it would never be the same.

The week after the attack all the teachers took it moderately easy on all the students giving them, and themselves, the time to grieve for such a loss.

After the first week things slowly returned to a relative state of normalcy, though it seemed a cloud of gloom hung over the castle.

Harry eventually did tell Sirius about how he had traveled back in time and all about his life thus far. He took it a lot better than Remus had at first, but that was probably because Remus was there assuring him that Harry wasn't lying.

The three of them pulled almost completely away from Peter after Sirius had finally been told. Lily was baffled at the behavior, but didn't question it. They still tolerated him and were civil to him, but just barely so.

They also picked up their training schedule. Lily and Harry no longer had to hide all the more dubious things they had learned the past summer. Remus and Sirius also picked up their training schedule now that they knew exactly what could happen someday. They finally understood why Harry was training so hard that year.

* * *

The final weeks of the term went by in a blur of mid-term exams and training. At last it was the Friday before they would be leaving for Christmas break.

"Ok, let's make sure we have this right. You, Remus, will be going home and be meeting me at the Leaky Cauldron the day after Christmas," Harry said. Remus nodded his head. Harry continued. "Good. Then you, Sirius, will be doing whatever it is you do on your breaks and meet me Christmas Eve at the Leaky Cauldron so I can take you to the house."

Sirius nodded, but spoke up before Harry could continue, "Why can't you just tell us where it is, and we can apparate there instead?"

"Because the house is warded that only those that are of the Potter bloodline or have been specifically keyed to the wards can apparate there. Is that all the questions or can I finish now?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow at Sirius. Sirius just shook his head. "Good. Lily and I will be at Godric's Hollow training and enjoying our break. Just send us an owl telling us the time you want to meet and I will be there to bring you to the house."

"I bet you to will be doing a lot of 'enjoying break' won't you?" Sirius said raising his eyebrow suggestively.

Harry blushed, "Shut up, Sirius. You very well know that she is my m…friend. And, if you don't I swear I will hex your mouth to your ass!"

Sirius grumbled but did quiet.

"Alright, let's all get some sleep. See you in the morning, Lily," Harry started to make his way over to the boy's dormitory stairs with Remus and Sirius in tow, but Lily quickly ran over and pecked Harry on the lips before dashing up the girl's stairs.

Harry was dazed, but Sirius grabbed him and started drag him up the stairs, "C'mon lover boy. Let's get you up to bed."

Harry came to his senses at Sirius' comment, "I thought I told you drop that. Next time it won't just be a warning." Harry growled before he marched up the stairs, Remus following in his wake.

The three boys finally settled into their beds.

* * *

The next day they got up and gathered their stuff. They all shrunk it down and stuffed it into their pockets. Dumbledore had informed everyone yesterday that all students of age that had their Apparation license would be allowed to apparate home instead of taking the train.

The four of them went down to breakfast, and ate quickly. Them and the rest of the leaving students (which weren't many, most decided that the castle would be safer) made their way to the entrance hall where Filch was checking off names as they left.

"Will you four brats be taking the train or apparating?" He asked sneering at them.

"We will be apparating," Harry replied shortly.

"Then you will be walking. The carriages are only for those taking the train," Filch then moved onto the next students.

Harry and Sirius glared back at the man's back before being pulled out the doors by Lily and Remus, respectively.

They made their way quickly down to the gates pulling their cloaks tightly to themselves.

"Well we will see you two in about two weeks," Harry said to Remus and Sirius.

"Now, you two behave yourselves," Sirius said mischievously before disapparating before Harry could hex him.

Remus shook his head stifling laughter. Harry glared at him. "Well, see you in two weeks Harry, Lily. Have a good Christmas," Remus then disapprated.

"Well are you ready to go? Would you like me to bring you along or are you fine to go yourself?" Harry asked Lily whose teeth were chattering rather loudly.

"Take me please. I don't know how you can concentrate with it this cold," Lily told him.

"Didn't I ever tell you about my first time apparating on my own? I had to take a passenger along half-way across Britain, when we were both injured and exhausted. This is nothing compared to then. All right c'mon, let's get out of here," Harry said as he grabbed her shoulders with his hands before they both disappeared.

The two of them apparated into the entrance hall of Godric's Hollow. Lily fainted at the sudden change in temperature. Harry picked her up carefully and carried her up to her room.

Lily woke up right as he placed her down in her bed. She slowly opened her eyes, "Thank you, Harry, for everything," With that she pushed herself up and gave him a kiss that lasted several seconds longer than her previous ones.

Harry blushed furiously before he dashed out of the room.

Lily chuckled, and then said out loud to herself, "I wish he would stop that. He is cute and all when he blushes, but it's hard to kiss him if he runs out every time." Then she promptly fainted again falling into blissful dreams.

* * *

A/N: Well that took me longer than I expected it to. My note at the beginning of the chapter still stands. This is my story and I won't force you to read. Either you do or you don't. I'm sorry about the delay about how long it took me to write it (I wrote it over a month and half period). I'll try to get the next one out quicker. I have adjusted to school and everything (though I still need to find a job). Thanks for all the reviews. All those review alerts in my inbox is what persuaded me into finally getting this chapter out, so keep it up. 


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